Tell me, O Muse, of that many-sided hero who
 traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy . Many cities did he visit, and many were
 the people with whose customs and thinking [ noos ]
 he was acquainted; many things he suffered at sea while seeking to save his own
 life [ psukhê ] and to achieve the safe homecoming
 [ nostos ] of his companions; but do what he might
 he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer
 recklessness in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Helios; so the god prevented
 them from ever reaching home. Tell me, as you have told those who came before
 me, about all these things, O daughter of Zeus, starting from whatsoever point
 you choose. 

 
 So now all who escaped death in battle or by
 shipwreck had got safely home except Odysseus, and he, though he was longing
 for his return [ nostos ] to his wife and country,
 was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got him into a large cave and
 wanted to marry him. But as years went by, there came a time when the gods
 settled that he should go back to Ithaca ; even then, however, when he was among his own people,
 his trials [ athloi ] were not yet over; nevertheless
 all the gods had now begun to pity him except Poseidon, who still persecuted
 him without ceasing and would not let him get home. 

 
 Now Poseidon had gone off to the Ethiopians, who
 are at the world's end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the
 other East. He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and was
 enjoying himself at his festival; but the other gods met in the house of
 Olympian Zeus, and the sire of gods and men spoke first. At that moment he was
 thinking of Aigisthos, who had been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes; so he
 said to the other gods: 

 
 "See now, how men consider us gods responsible
 [ aitioi ] for what is after all nothing but their
 own folly. Look at Aigisthos; he must needs make love to Agamemnon's wife
 unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon, though he knew it would be the death of
 him; for I sent Hermes to warn him not to do either of these things, inasmuch
 as Orestes would be sure to take his revenge when he grew up and wanted to
 return home. Hermes told him this in all good will but he would not listen, and
 now he has paid for everything in full."

Then Athena said, "Father, son of Kronos, King
 of kings, it served Aigisthos right, and so it would any one else who does as
 he did; but Aigisthos is neither here nor there; it is for Odysseus that my
 heart bleeds, when I think of his sufferings in that lonely sea-girt island,
 far away, poor man, from all his friends. It is an island covered with forest,
 in the very middle of the sea, and a goddess lives there, daughter of the
 magician Atlas, who looks after the bottom of the ocean, and carries the great
 columns that keep heaven and earth asunder. This daughter of Atlas has got hold
 of poor unhappy Odysseus, and keeps trying by every kind of blandishment to
 make him forget his home, so that he is tired of life, and thinks of nothing
 but how he may once more see the smoke of his own chimneys. You, sir, take no
 heed of this, and yet when Odysseus was before Troy did he not propitiate you with many a burnt sacrifice? Why
 then should you keep on being so angry with him?" 

 
 And Zeus said, "My child, what are you talking
 about? How can I forget Odysseus than whom there is no more capable man on
 earth [in regard to noos ], nor more liberal in his
 offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven? Bear in mind, however, that
 Poseidon is still furious with Odysseus for having blinded an eye of Polyphemus
 king of the Cyclopes. Polyphemus is son to Poseidon by the nymph Thoosa,
 daughter to the sea-king Phorkys; therefore though he will not kill Odysseus
 outright, he torments him by preventing him from his homecoming [ nostos ]. Still, let us lay our heads together and see
 how we can help him to return; Poseidon will then be pacified, for if we are
 all of a mind he can hardly stand out against us." 

 
 And Athena said, "Father, son of Kronos, King of
 kings, if, then, the gods now mean that Odysseus should get home, we should
 first send Hermes to the Ogygian island to tell Calypso that we have made up
 our minds and that he is to have his homecoming [ nostos ]. In the meantime I will go to Ithaca , to put heart into Odysseus' son Telemakhos; I will
 embolden him to call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the suitors of
 his mother Penelope, who persist in eating up any number of his sheep and oxen;
 I will also conduct him to Sparta 
 and to Pylos , to see if he can hear
 anything about the return [ nostos ] of his dear
 father - for this will give him genuine fame [ kleos ] throughout humankind." 

 
 So saying she bound on her glittering golden
 sandals, imperishable, with which she can fly like the wind over land or sea;
 she grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong,
 wherewith she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her, and down she
 darted from the topmost summits of Olympus , whereon forthwith she was in the dêmos of Ithaca , at the
 gateway of Odysseus' house, disguised as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the
 Taphians, and she held a bronze spear in her hand. There she found the lordly
 suitors seated on hides of the oxen which they had killed and eaten, and
 playing draughts in front of the house. Men-servants and pages were bustling
 about to wait upon them, some mixing wine with water in the mixing-bowls, some
 cleaning down the tables with wet sponges and laying them out again, and some
 cutting up great quantities of meat.

Telemakhos saw her long before any one else
 did. He was sitting moodily among the suitors thinking about his brave father,
 and how he would send them fleeing out of the house, if he were to come to his
 own again and be honored as in days gone by. Thus brooding as he sat among
 them, he caught sight of Athena and went straight to the gate, for he was vexed
 that a stranger should be kept waiting for admittance. He took her right hand
 in his own, and bade her give him her spear. "Welcome," said he, "to our house,
 and when you have partaken of food you shall tell us what you have come
 for." 

 
 He led the way as he spoke, and Athena followed
 him. When they were within he took her spear and set it in the spear - stand
 against a strong bearing-post along with the many other spears of his unhappy
 father, and he conducted her to a richly decorated seat under which he threw a
 cloth of damask. There was a footstool also for her feet, and he set another
 seat near her for himself, away from the suitors, that she might not be annoyed
 while eating by their noise and insolence, and that he might ask her more
 freely about his father. 

 
 A maid servant then brought them water in a
 beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their
 hands, and she drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them
 bread, and offered them many good things of what there was in the house, the
 carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and set cups of gold by their
 side, and a man-servant brought them wine and poured it out for them. 

 
 Then the suitors came in and took their places
 on the benches and seats. Forthwith men servants poured water over their hands,
 maids went round with the bread-baskets, pages filled the mixing-bowls with
 wine and water, and they laid their hands upon the good things that were before
 them. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink they wanted music and
 dancing, which are the crowning embellishments of a banquet, so a servant
 brought a lyre to Phemios, whom they compelled perforce to sing to them. As
 soon as he touched his lyre and began to sing Telemakhos spoke low to Athena,
 with his head close to hers that no man might hear.

"I hope, sir," said he, "that you will not be
 offended with what I am going to say. Singing comes cheap to those who do not
 pay for it, and all this is done at the cost of one whose bones lie rotting in
 some wilderness or grinding to powder in the surf. If these men were to see my
 father come back to Ithaca they would
 pray for longer legs rather than a longer purse, for wealth would not serve
 them; but he, alas, has fallen on an ill fate, and even when people do
 sometimes say that he is coming, we no longer heed them; we shall never see him
 again. And now, sir, tell me and tell me true, who you are and where you come
 from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner of ship you came in, how
 your crew brought you to Ithaca , and
 of what nation they declared themselves to be - for you cannot have come by
 land. Tell me also truly, for I want to know, are you a stranger to this house,
 or have you been here in my father's time? In the old days we had many visitors
 for my father went about much himself." 

 
 And Athena answered, "I will tell you truly and
 particularly all about it. I am Mentes, son of Anchialos, and I am King of the
 Taphians. I have come here with my ship and crew, on a voyage to men of a
 foreign tongue being bound for Temesa with a cargo of iron, and I shall bring
 back copper. As for my ship, it lies over yonder off the open country away from
 the town, in the harbor Rheithron under the wooded mountain Neritum. Our
 fathers were friends before us, as old Laertes will tell you, if you will go and ask him. They say,
 however, that he never comes to town now, and lives by himself in the country,
 faring hardly, with an old woman to look after him and get his dinner for him,
 when he comes in tired from pottering about his vineyard. They told me your
 father was at home again, and that was why I came, but it seems the gods are
 still keeping him back, for he is not dead yet not on the mainland. It is more
 likely he is on some sea-girt island in mid ocean, or a prisoner among savages
 who are detaining him against his will. I am no seer [ mantis ], and know very little about omens, but I speak as it is
 borne in upon me from heaven, and assure you that he will not be away much
 longer; for he is a man of such resource that even though he were in chains of
 iron he would find some means of getting home again. But tell me, and tell me
 true, can Odysseus really have such a fine looking young man for a son? You are
 indeed wonderfully like him about the head and eyes, for we were close friends
 before he set sail for Troy where the
 flower of all the Argives went also. Since that time we have never either of us
 seen the other." 

 
 "My mother," answered Telemakhos, "tells me I
 am son to Odysseus, but it is a wise child that knows his own father. Would
 that I were son to one who had grown old upon his own estates, for, since you
 ask me, there is no more ill-starred man under heaven than he who they tell me
 is my father." 

 
 And Athena said, "There is no fear of your race
 dying out yet, while Penelope has such a fine son as you are. But tell me, and
 tell me true, what is the meaning of all this feasting, and who are these
 people? What is it all about? Have you some banquet, or is there a wedding in
 the family - for no one seems to be bringing any provisions of his own? And the
 guests - how atrociously they are behaving; what riot they make over the whole
 house; it is enough to disgust any respectable person who comes near them."

"Sir," said Telemakhos, "as regards your
 question, so long as my father was here it was well with us and with the house,
 but the gods in their displeasure have willed it otherwise, and have hidden him
 away more closely than mortal man was ever yet hidden. I could have borne it
 better even though he were dead, if he had fallen with his men in the dêmos of Troy , or had died with friends around him when the days of his
 fighting were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his
 ashes, and I should myself have been heir to his renown [ kleos ]; but now the storm-winds have spirited him away we know not
 wither; he is gone without leaving so much as a trace behind him, and I inherit
 nothing but dismay. Nor does the matter end simply with grief for the loss of
 my father; heaven has laid sorrows upon me of yet another kind; for the chiefs
 from all our islands, Dulichium, Same, and the woodland island of Zacynthus , as also all the principal men of
 Ithaca itself, are eating up my
 house under the pretext of paying their court to my mother, who will neither
 point blank say that she will not marry, nor yet bring matters to an end; so
 they are making havoc of my estate, and before long will do so also with
 myself." 

 
 "Is that so?" exclaimed Athena, "then you do
 indeed want Odysseus home again. Give him his helmet, shield, and a couple
 lances, and if he is the man he was when I first knew him in our house,
 drinking and making merry, he would soon lay his hands about these rascally
 suitors, were he to stand once more upon his own threshold. He was then coming
 from Ephyra , where he had been to
 beg poison for his arrows from Ilos, son of Mermerus. Ilos feared the
 ever-living gods and would not give him any, but my father let him have some,
 for he was very fond of him. If Odysseus is the man he then was these suitors
 will have a swift doom and a sorry wedding. 

 
 "But there! It rests with heaven to determine
 whether he is to return, and take his revenge in his own house or no; I would,
 however, urge you to set about trying to get rid of these suitors at once. Take
 my advice, call the Achaean heroes in assembly tomorrow -lay your case before
 them, and call heaven to bear you witness. Bid the suitors take themselves off,
 each to his own place, and if your mother's mind is set on marrying again, let
 her go back to her father, who will find her a husband and provide her with all
 the marriage gifts that so dear a daughter may expect. As for yourself, let me
 prevail upon you to take the best ship you can get, with a crew of twenty men,
 and go in quest of your father who has so long been missing. Some one may tell
 you something, or (and people often hear things in this way) some heaven-sent
 message [ kleos ] may direct you. First go to
 Pylos and ask Nestor; thence go
 on to Sparta and visit Menelaos,
 for he got home last of all the Achaeans; if you hear that your father is alive
 and about to achieve his homecoming [ nostos ], you
 can put up with the waste these suitors will make for yet another twelve
 months. If on the other hand you hear of his death, come home at once,
 celebrate his funeral rites with all due pomp, build a grave marker [ sêma ] to his memory, and make your mother marry again.
 Then, having done all this, think it well over in your mind how, by fair means
 or foul, you may kill these suitors in your own house. You are too old to plead
 infancy any longer; have you not heard how people are singing Orestes' praises
 [ kleos ] for having killed his father's murderer
 Aigisthos? You are a fine, smart looking young man; show your mettle, then, and
 make yourself a name in story. Now, however, I must go back to my ship and to
 my crew, who will be impatient if I keep them waiting longer; think the matter
 over for yourself, and remember what I have said to you." 

 
 "Sir," answered Telemakhos, "it has been very
 kind of you to talk to me in this way, as though I were your own son, and I
 will do all you tell me; I know you want to be getting on with your voyage, but
 stay a little longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself. I will
 then give you a present, and you shall go on your way rejoicing; I will give
 you one of great beauty and value - a keepsake such as only dear friends give
 to one another."

Athena answered, "Do not try to keep me, for I
 would be on my way at once. As for any present you may be disposed to make me,
 keep it till I come again, and I will take it home with me. You shall give me a
 very good one, and I will give you one of no less value in return." 

 
 With these words she flew away like a bird into
 the air, but she had given Telemakhos courage, and had made him think more than
 ever about his father. He felt the change, wondered at it, and knew that the
 stranger had been a god, so he went straight to where the suitors were
 sitting. 

 
 Phemios was still singing, and his hearers sat
 rapt in silence as he told the baneful tale of the homecoming [ nostos ] from Troy , and the ills Athena had laid upon the Achaeans. Penelope,
 daughter of Ikarios, heard his song from her room upstairs, and came down by
 the great staircase, not alone, but attended by two of her handmaids. When she
 reached the suitors she stood by one of the bearing posts that supported the
 roof of the cloisters with a staid maiden on either side of her. She held a
 veil, moreover, before her face, and was weeping bitterly. 

 
 "Phemios," she cried, "you know many another
 feat of gods and heroes, such as poets love to celebrate. Sing the suitors some
 one of these, and let them drink their wine in silence, but cease this sad
 tale, for it breaks my sorrowful heart, and reminds me of my lost husband for
 whom I have grief [ penthos ] ever without ceasing,
 and whose name [ kleos ] was great over all
 Hellas and middle Argos ."

"Mother," answered Telemakhos, "let the bard
 sing what he has a mind [ noos ] to; bards are not
 responsible [ aitios ] for the ills they sing of; it
 is Zeus, not they, who is responsible [ aitios ], and
 who sends weal or woe upon humankind according to his own good pleasure. There
 should be no feeling of nemesis against this one
 for singing the ill-fated return of the Danaans, for people always favor most
 warmly the kleos of the latest songs. Make up your
 mind to it and bear it; Odysseus is not the only man who never came back from
 Troy , but many another went down
 as well as he. Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with your daily
 duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants; for speech
 is man's matter, and mine above all others - for it is I who am master
 here." 

 
 She went wondering back into the house, and
 laid her son's saying in her heart. Then, going upstairs with her handmaids
 into her room, she mourned her dear husband till Athena shed sweet sleep over
 her eyes. But the suitors were clamorous throughout the covered cloisters, and
 prayed each one that he might be her bed fellow. 

 
 Then Telemakhos spoke, "You suitors of my
 mother," he cried, "you with your overweening hubris , let us feast at our pleasure now, and let there be no
 brawling, for it is a rare thing to hear a man with such a divine voice as
 Phemios has; but in the morning meet me in full assembly that I may give you
 formal notice to depart, and feast at one another's houses, turn and turn
 about, at your own cost. If on the other hand you choose to persist in sponging
 upon one man, heaven help me, but Zeus shall reckon with you in full, and when
 you fall in my father's house there shall be no man to avenge you." 

 
 The suitors bit their lips as they heard him,
 and marveled at the boldness of his speech. Then, Antinoos, son of Eupeithes,
 said, "The gods seem to have given you lessons in bluster and tall talking; may
 Zeus never grant you to be chief in Ithaca as your father was before you."

Telemakhos answered, "Antinoos, do not chide
 with me, but, god willing, I will be chief too if I can. Is this the worst fate
 you can think of for me? It is no bad thing to be a chief, for it brings both
 riches and honor. Still, now that Odysseus is dead there are many great men in
 Ithaca both old and young, and some
 other may take the lead among them; nevertheless I will be chief in my own
 house, and will rule those whom Odysseus has won for me." 

 
 Then Eurymakhos, son of Polybos, answered, "It
 rests with heaven to decide who shall be chief among us, but you shall be
 master in your own house and over your own possessions; no one while there is a
 man in Ithaca shall do you violence
 [ biê ] nor rob you. And now, my good man, I want
 to know about this stranger. What country does he come from? Of what family is
 he, and where is his estate? Has he brought you news about the return of your
 father, or was he on business of his own? He seemed a well-to-do man, but he
 hurried off so suddenly that he was gone in a moment before we could get to
 know him." 

 
 "The nostos of my
 father is dead and gone," answered Telemakhos, "and even if some rumor reaches
 me I put no more faith in it now. My mother does indeed sometimes send for a
 soothsayer and question him, but I give his prophesying no heed. As for the
 stranger, he was Mentes, son of Anchialos, chief of the Taphians, an old friend
 of my father's." But in his heart he knew that it had been the goddess. 

 
 The suitors then returned to their singing and
 dancing until the evening; but when night fell upon their pleasuring they went
 home to bed each in his own abode. Telemakhos' room was high up in a tower that
 looked on to the outer court; there, then, he went, brooding and full of
 thought. A good old woman, Eurykleia, daughter of Ops, the son of Pisenor, went
 before him with a couple of blazing torches. Laertes had bought her with his own wealth when she was quite
 young; he gave the worth of twenty oxen for her, and showed as much respect to
 her in his household as he did to his own wedded wife, but he did not take her
 to his bed for he feared his wife's resentment. She it was who now lighted
 Telemakhos to his room, and she loved him better than any of the other women in
 the house did, for she had nursed him when he was a baby. He opened the door of
 his bed room and sat down upon the bed; as he took off his shirt he gave it to
 the good old woman, who folded it tidily up, and hung it for him over a peg by
 his bed side, after which she went out, pulled the door to by a silver catch,
 and drew the bolt home by means of the strap. But Telemakhos as he lay covered
 with a woolen fleece kept thinking all night through of his intended voyage and
 of the counsel that Athena had given him .

Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered
 Dawn, appeared, Telemakhos rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to
 his comely feet, girded his sword about his shoulder, and left his room looking
 like an immortal god. He at once sent the criers round to call the people in
 assembly, so they called them and the people gathered thereon; then, when they
 were got together, he went to the place of assembly spear in hand - not alone,
 for his two hounds went with him. Athena endowed him with a presence of such
 divine comeliness [ kharis ] that all marveled at him
 as he went by, and when he took his place in his father's seat even the oldest
 councilors made way for him. 

 
 Aigyptios, a man bent double with age, and of
 infinite experience, was the first to speak His son Antiphos had gone with
 Odysseus to Ilion , land of noble
 steeds, but the savage Cyclops had
 killed him when they were all shut up in the cave, and had cooked his last
 dinner for him. He had three sons left, of whom two still worked on their
 father's land, while the third, Eurynomos, was one of the suitors; nevertheless
 their father could not get over the loss of Antiphos, and was still weeping for
 him when he began his speech. 

 
 "Men of Ithaca ," he said, "hear my words. From the day Odysseus left us
 there has been no meeting of our councilors until now; who then can it be,
 whether old or young, that finds it so necessary to convene us? Has he got wind
 of some host approaching, and does he wish to warn us, or would he speak upon
 some other matter of public moment? I am sure he is an excellent person, and I
 hope Zeus will grant him his heart's desire." 

 
 Telemakhos took this speech as of good omen and
 rose at once, for he was bursting with what he had to say. He stood in the
 middle of the assembly and the good herald Pisenor brought him his staff. Then,
 turning to Aigyptios, "Sir," said he, "it is I, as you will shortly learn, who
 have convened you, for it is I who am the most aggrieved. I have not got wind
 of any host approaching about which I would warn you, nor is there any matter
 of public moment on which I would speak. My grievance is purely personal, and
 turns on two great misfortunes which have fallen upon my house. The first of
 these is the loss of my excellent father, who was chief among all you here
 present, and was like a father to every one of you; the second is much more
 serious, and ere long will be the utter ruin of my estate. The sons of all the
 chief men among you are pestering my mother to marry them against her will.
 They are afraid to go to her father Ikarios, asking him to choose the one he
 likes best, and to provide marriage gifts for his daughter, but day by day they
 keep hanging about my father's house, sacrificing our oxen, sheep, and fat
 goats for their banquets, and never giving so much as a thought to the quantity
 of wine they drink. No estate can stand such recklessness; we have now no
 Odysseus to ward off harm from our doors, and I cannot hold my own against
 them. I shall never all my days be as good a man as he was, still I would
 indeed defend myself if I had power to do so, for I cannot stand such treatment
 any longer; my house is being disgraced and ruined. Have respect, therefore, to
 your own consciences and to public opinion. Fear, too, the wrath [ mênis ] of the gods, lest they should be displeased and
 turn upon you. I pray you by Zeus and Themis, who is the beginning and the end
 of councils, [do not] hold back, my friends, and leave me singlehanded - unless
 it be that my brave father Odysseus did some wrong to the Achaeans which you
 would now avenge on me, by aiding and abetting these suitors. Moreover, if I am
 to be eaten out of house and home at all, I had rather you did the eating
 yourselves, for I could then take action against you to some purpose, and serve
 you with notices from house to house till I got paid in full, whereas now I
 have no remedy."

With this Telemakhos dashed his staff to the
 ground and burst into tears. Every one was very sorry for him, but they all sat
 still and no one ventured to make him an angry answer, save only Antinoos, who
 spoke thus: 

 
 "Telemakhos, insolent braggart that you are, how
 dare you try to throw the blame upon us suitors? We are not the ones who are
 responsible [ aitioi ] but your mother is, for she
 knows many kinds of kerdos . This three years past,
 and close on four, she has been driving us out of our minds, by encouraging
 each one of us, and sending him messages that say one thing but her noos means other things. And then there was that other
 trick she played us. She set up a great tambour frame in her room, and began to
 work on an enormous piece of fine fabric. ‘Sweet hearts,’ said she, ‘Odysseus
 is indeed dead, still do not press me to marry again immediately, wait - for I
 would not have skill in weaving perish unrecorded - till I have completed a
 shroud for the hero Laertes , to be
 in readiness against the time when death shall take him. He is very rich, and
 the women of the dêmos will talk if he is laid out
 without a shroud.’ 

 
 "This was what she said, and we assented;
 whereon we could see her working on her great web all day long, but at night
 she would unpick the stitches again by torchlight. She fooled us in this way
 for three years and we never found her out, but as time [ hôra ] wore on and she was now in her fourth year, one of her maids
 who knew what she was doing told us, and we caught her in the act of undoing
 her work, so she had to finish it whether she would or no. The suitors,
 therefore, make you this answer, that both you and the Achaeans may understand
 - ‘Send your mother away, and bid her marry the man of her own and of her
 father's choice’; for I do not know what will happen if she goes on plaguing us
 much longer with the airs she gives herself on the score of the accomplishments
 Athena has taught her, and because she knows so many kinds of kerdos . We never yet heard of such a woman; we know
 all about Tyro, Alkmene, Mycene, and the famous women of old, but they were
 nothing to your mother, any one of them. It was not fair of her to treat us in
 that way, and as long as she continues in the mind [ noos ] with which heaven has now endowed her, so long shall we go on
 eating up your estate; and I do not see why she should change, for she gets all
 the honor and glory [ kleos ], and it is you who pay
 for it, not she. Understand, then, that we will not go back to our lands,
 neither here nor elsewhere, till she has made her choice and married some one
 or other of us." 

 
 Telemakhos answered, "Antinoos, how can I drive
 the mother who bore me from my father's house? My father is abroad and we do
 not know whether he is alive or dead. It will be hard on me if I have to pay
 Ikarios the large sum which I must give him if I insist on sending his daughter
 back to him. Not only will he deal rigorously with me, but some daimôn will also punish me; for my mother when she
 leaves the house will call on the Erinyes to avenge her; besides, it will
 result in nemesis for me among men, and I will have
 nothing to say to it. If you choose to take offense at this, leave the house
 and feast elsewhere at one another's houses at your own cost turn and turn
 about. If, on the other hand, you elect to persist in sponging upon one man,
 heaven help me, but Zeus shall reckon with you in full, and when you fall in my
 father's house there shall be no man to avenge you."

As he spoke Zeus sent two eagles from the top
 of the mountain, and they flew on and on with the wind, sailing side by side in
 their own lordly flight. When they were right over the middle of the assembly
 they wheeled and circled about, beating the air with their wings and glaring
 death into the eyes of them that were below; then, fighting fiercely and
 tearing at one another, they flew off towards the right over the town. The
 people wondered as they saw them, and asked each other what an this might be;
 whereon Halitherses, who was the best seer and reader of omens among them,
 spoke to them plainly and in all honesty, saying: 

 
 "Hear me, men of Ithaca , and I speak more particularly to the suitors, for I see
 mischief brewing for them. Odysseus is not going to be away much longer; indeed
 he is close at hand to deal out death and destruction, not on them alone, but
 on many another of us who live in Ithaca . Let us then be wise in time, and put a stop to this
 wickedness before he comes. Let the suitors do so of their own accord; it will
 be better for them, for I am not prophesying without due knowledge; everything
 has happened to Odysseus as I foretold when the Argives set out for Troy , and he with them. I said that after
 going through much hardship and losing all his men he should come home again in
 the twentieth year and that no one would know him; and now all this is coming
 true." 

 
 Eurymakhos son of Polybos then said, "Go home,
 old man, and prophesy to your own children, or it may be worse for them. I can
 read these omens myself much better than you can; birds are always flying about
 in the sunshine somewhere or other, but they seldom mean anything. Odysseus has
 died in a far country, and it is a pity you are not dead along with him,
 instead of prating here about omens and adding fuel to the anger of Telemakhos
 which is fierce enough as it is. I suppose you think he will give you something
 for your family, but I tell you - and it shall surely be - when an old man like
 you, who should know better, talks a young one over till he becomes
 troublesome, in the first place his young friend will only fare so much the
 worse - he will take nothing by it, for the suitors will prevent this - and in
 the next, we will lay a heavier fine, sir, upon yourself than you will at all
 like paying, for it will bear hardly upon you. As for Telemakhos, I warn him in
 the presence of you all to send his mother back to her father, who will find
 her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts so dear a daughter
 may expect. Till then we shall go on harassing him with our suit; for we fear
 no man, and care neither for him, with all his fine speeches, nor for any
 fortune-telling of yours. You may preach as much as you please, but we shall
 only hate you the more. We shall go back and continue to eat up Telemakhos'
 estate without paying him, till such time as his mother leaves off tormenting
 us by keeping us day after day on the tiptoe of expectation, each vying with
 the other in his suit for a prize of such rare perfection [ aretê ]. Besides we cannot go after the other women whom we should
 marry in due course, but for the way in which she treats us." 

 
 Then Telemakhos said, "Eurymakhos, and you
 other suitors, I shall say no more, and entreat you no further, for the gods
 and the people of Ithaca now know my
 story. Give me, then, a ship and a crew of twenty men to take me hither and
 thither, and I will go to Sparta 
 and to Pylos to inquire about the
 nostos of my father who has so long been
 missing. Some one may tell me something, or (and people often hear kleos in this way) some heaven-sent message may direct
 me. If I can hear of him as alive and achieving his homecoming [ nostos ] I will put up with the waste you suitors will
 make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand I hear of his death, I
 will return at once, celebrate his funeral rites with all due pomp, build a
 grave marker [ sêma ] to his memory, and make my
 mother marry again."

With these words he sat down, and Mentor who
 had been a friend of Odysseus, and had been left in charge of everything with
 full authority over the servants, rose to speak. He, then, plainly and in all
 honesty addressed them thus: 

 
 "Hear me, men of Ithaca , I hope that you may never have a kind and well-disposed
 ruler any more, nor one who will govern you equitably; I hope that all your
 chiefs henceforward may be cruel and unjust, for there is not one of you but
 has forgotten Odysseus, who ruled you as though he were your father. I am not
 half so angry with the suitors, for if they choose to do violence in the
 naughtiness of their minds [ noos ], and wager their
 heads that Odysseus will not return, they can take the high hand and eat up his
 estate, but as for you others I am shocked at the way in which you the rest of
 the population [ dêmos ] all sit still without even
 trying to stop such scandalous goings on - which you could do if you chose, for
 you are many and they are few." 

 
 Leiokritos, son of Euenor, answered him saying,
 "Mentor, what folly is all this, that you should set the people to stay us? It
 is a hard thing for one man to fight with many about his victuals. Even though
 Odysseus himself were to set upon us while we are feasting in his house, and do
 his best to oust us, his wife, who wants him back so very badly, would have
 small cause for rejoicing, and his blood would be upon his own head if he
 fought against such great odds. There is no sense in what you have been saying.
 Now, therefore, do you people go about your business, and let his father's old
 friends, Mentor and Halitherses, speed this boy on his journey, if he goes at
 all - which I do not think he will, for he is more likely to stay where he is
 till some one comes and tells him something." 

 
 On this he broke up the assembly, and every man
 went back to his own abode, while the suitors returned to the house of
 Odysseus.

Then Telemakhos went all alone by the sea side,
 washed his hands in the gray waves, and prayed to Athena. 

 
 "Hear me," he cried, "you god who visited me
 yesterday, and bade me sail the seas in search of the nostos of my father who has so long been missing. I would obey you,
 but the Achaeans, and more particularly the wicked suitors, are hindering me
 that I cannot do so." 

 
 As he thus prayed, Athena came close up to him
 in the likeness and with the voice of Mentor. "Telemakhos," said she, "if you
 are made of the same stuff as your father you will be neither fool nor coward
 henceforward, for Odysseus never broke his word nor left his work half done.
 If, then, you take after him, your voyage will not be fruitless, but unless you
 have the blood of Odysseus and of Penelope in your veins I see no likelihood of
 your succeeding. Sons are seldom as good men as their fathers; they are
 generally worse, not better; still, as you are not going to be either fool or
 coward henceforward, and are not entirely without some share of your father's
 wise discernment, I look with hope upon your undertaking. But mind you never
 make common cause [ noos ] with any of those foolish
 suitors, for they are neither sensible nor just [ dikaioi ], and give no thought to death and to the doom that will
 shortly fall on one and all of them, so that they shall perish on the same day.
 As for your voyage, it shall not be long delayed; your father was such an old
 friend of mine that I will find you a ship, and will come with you myself. Now,
 however, return home, and go about among the suitors; begin getting provisions
 ready for your voyage; see everything well stowed, the wine in jars, and the
 barley meal, which is the staff of life, in leathern bags, while I go round the
 dêmos and round up volunteers at once. There are
 many ships in Ithaca both old and new;
 I will run my eye over them for you and will choose the best; we will get her
 ready and will put out to sea without delay." 

 
 Thus spoke Athena daughter of Zeus, and
 Telemakhos lost no time in doing as the goddess told him. He went moodily and
 found the suitors flaying goats and singeing pigs in the outer court. Antinoos
 came up to him at once and laughed as he took his hand in his own, saying,
 "Telemakhos, my fine fire-eater, bear no more ill blood neither in word nor
 deed, but eat and drink with us as you used to do. The Achaeans will find you
 in everything - a ship and a picked crew to boot - so that you can set sail for
 Pylos at once and get news of
 your noble father."

"Antinoos," answered Telemakhos, "I cannot eat
 in peace, nor take pleasure of any kind with such men as you are. Was it not
 enough that you should waste so much good property of mine while I was yet a
 boy? Now that I am older and know more about it, I am also stronger, and
 whether here among this people [ dêmos ], or by going
 to Pylos , I will do you all the harm
 I can. I shall go, and my going will not be in vain though, thanks to you
 suitors, I have neither ship nor crew of my own, and must be passenger not
 leader." 

 
 As he spoke he snatched his hand from that of
 Antinoos. Meanwhile the others went on getting dinner ready about the
 buildings, jeering at him tauntingly as they did so. 

 
 "Telemakhos," said one youngster, "means to be
 the death of us; I suppose he thinks he can bring friends to help him from
 Pylos , or again from Sparta , where he seems bent on going. Or
 will he go to Ephyra as well, for
 poison to put in our wine and kill us?" 

 
 Another said, "Perhaps if Telemakhos goes on
 board ship, he will be like his father and perish far from his friends. In this
 case we should have plenty to do, for we could then divide up his property
 amongst us: as for the house we can let his mother and the man who marries her
 have that."

This was how they talked. But Telemakhos went
 down into the lofty and spacious store-room where his father's treasure of gold
 and bronze lay heaped up upon the floor, and where the linen and spare clothes
 were kept in open chests. Here, too, there was a store of fragrant olive oil,
 while casks of old, well-ripened wine, unblended and fit for a god to drink,
 were ranged against the wall in case Odysseus should come home again after all.
 The room was closed with well-made doors opening in the middle; moreover the
 faithful old house-keeper Eurykleia, daughter of Ops the son of Pisenor, was in
 charge of everything both night and day. Telemakhos called her to the
 store-room and said: 

 
 "Nurse, draw me off some of the best wine you
 have, after what you are keeping for my father's own drinking, in case, poor
 man, he should escape death, and find his way home again after all. Let me have
 twelve jars, and see that they all have lids; also fill me some well-sewn
 leathern bags with barley meal - about twenty measures in all. Get these things
 put together at once, and say nothing about it. I will take everything away
 this evening as soon as my mother has gone upstairs for the night. I am going
 to Sparta and to Pylos to see if I can hear anything about
 the nostos of my dear father. 

 
 When Eurykleia heard this she began to cry, and
 spoke fondly to him, saying, "My dear child, what ever can have put such notion
 as that into your head? Where in the world do you want to go to - you, who are
 the one hope of the house? Your poor father is dead and gone in some foreign
 country [ dêmos ] nobody knows where, and as soon as
 your back is turned these wicked ones here will be scheming to get you put out
 of the way, and will share all your possessions among themselves; stay where
 you are among your own people, and do not go wandering and worrying your life
 out on the barren ocean." 

 
 "Fear not, nurse," answered Telemakhos, "my
 scheme is not without heaven's sanction; but swear that you will say nothing
 about all this to my mother, till I have been away some ten or twelve days,
 unless she hears of my having gone, and asks you; for I do not want her to
 spoil her beauty by crying."

The old woman swore most solemnly that she
 would not, and when she had completed her oath, she began drawing off the wine
 into jars, and getting the barley meal into the bags, while Telemakhos went
 back to the suitors. 

 
 Then Athena bethought her of another matter.
 She took his shape, and went round the town to each one of the crew, telling
 them to meet at the ship by sundown. She went also to Noemon son of Phronios,
 and asked him to let her have a ship - which he was very ready to do. When the
 sun had set and darkness was over all the land, she got the ship into the
 water, put all the tackle on board her that ships generally carry, and
 stationed her at the end of the harbor. Presently the crew came up, and the
 goddess spoke encouragingly to each of them. 

 
 Furthermore she went to the house of Odysseus,
 and threw the suitors into a deep slumber. She caused their drink to fuddle
 them, and made them drop their cups from their hands, so that instead of
 sitting over their wine, they went back into the town to sleep, with their eyes
 heavy and full of drowsiness. Then she took the form and voice of Mentor, and
 called Telemakhos to come outside. 

 
 "Telemakhos," said she, "the men are on board
 and at their oars, waiting for you to give your orders, so make haste and let
 us be off."

On this she led the way, while Telemakhos
 followed in her steps. When they got to the ship they found the crew waiting by
 the water side, and Telemakhos said, "Now my men, help me to get the stores on
 board; they are all put together in the room, and my mother does not know
 anything about it, nor any of the maid servants except one." 

 
 With these words he led the way and the others
 followed after. When they had brought the things as he told them, Telemakhos
 went on board, Athena going before him and taking her seat in the stern of the
 vessel, while Telemakhos sat beside her. Then the men loosed the hawsers and
 took their places on the benches. Athena sent them a fair wind from the West,
 that whistled over the seething deep waves whereon Telemakhos told them to
 catch hold of the ropes and hoist sail, and they did as he told them. They set
 the mast in its socket in the cross plank, raised it, and made it fast with the
 forestays; then they hoisted their white sails aloft with ropes of twisted ox
 hide. As the sail bellied out with the wind, the ship flew through the seething
 deep water, and the foam hissed against her bows as she sped onward. Then they
 made all fast throughout the ship, filled the mixing-bowls to the brim, and
 made drink offerings to the immortal gods that are from everlasting, but more
 particularly to the gray-eyed daughter of Zeus. 

 
 Thus, then, the ship sped on her way through
 the watches of the night from dark till dawn.

But as the sun was rising from the fair sea into
 the firmament of heaven to shed light on mortals and immortals, they reached
 Pylos the city of Neleus. Now the
 people of Pylos were gathered on the
 sea shore to offer sacrifice of black bulls to Poseidon lord of the Earthquake.
 There were nine guilds with five hundred men in each, and there were nine bulls
 to each guild. As they were eating the inward meats and burning the thigh bones
 [on the embers] in the name of Poseidon, Telemakhos and his crew arrived,
 furled their sails, brought their ship to anchor, and went ashore. 

 
 Athena led the way and Telemakhos followed her.
 Presently she said, "Telemakhos, you must not at all feel aidôs or be nervous; you have taken this voyage to try and find out
 where your father is buried and how he came by his end; so go straight up to
 Nestor that we may see what he has got to tell us. Beg of him to speak the
 truth, and he will tell no lies, for he is an excellent person." 

 
 "But how, Mentor," replied Telemakhos, "dare I
 go up to Nestor, and how am I to address him? I have never yet been used to
 holding long conversations with people, and feel aidôs about questioning one who is so much older than myself." 

 
 "Some things, Telemakhos," answered Athena,
 "will be suggested to you by your own instinct, and some daimôn will prompt you further; for I am assured that the gods have
 been with you from the time of your birth until now."

She then went quickly on, and Telemakhos
 followed in her steps till they reached the place where the guilds of the
 Pylian people were assembled. There they found Nestor sitting with his sons,
 while his company round him were busy getting dinner ready, and putting pieces
 of meat on to the spits while other pieces were cooking. When they saw the
 strangers they crowded round them, took them by the hand and bade them take
 their places. Nestor's son Peisistratos at once offered his hand to each of
 them, and seated them on some soft sheepskins that were lying on the sands near
 his father and his brother Thrasymedes. Then he gave them their portions of the
 inward meats and poured wine for them into a golden cup, handing it to Athena
 first, and saluting her at the same time. 

 
 "Offer a prayer, sir," said he, "to lord
 Poseidon, for it is his feast that you are joining; when you have duly prayed
 and made your drink-offering, pass the cup to your friend that he may do so
 also. I doubt not that he too lifts his hands in prayer, for man cannot live
 without gods in the world. Still, he is younger than you are, and is much of an
 age with myself, so I will give you the precedence." 

 
 As he spoke he handed her the cup. Athena
 thought that he was just [ dikaios ] and right to
 have given it to herself first; she accordingly began praying heartily to
 Poseidon. "O you," she cried, "who encircle the earth, deign to grant the
 prayers of your servants that call upon you. More especially we pray you send
 down your grace on Nestor and on his sons; thereafter also make the rest of the
 Pylian people some handsome return for the goodly hecatomb they are offering
 you. Lastly, grant Telemakhos and myself a happy issue, in respect of the
 matter that has brought us in our to Pylos ." 

 
 When she had thus made an end of praying, she
 handed the cup to Telemakhos and he prayed likewise. By and by, when the outer
 meats were roasted and had been taken off the spits, the carvers gave every man
 his portion and they all made an excellent dinner. As soon as they had had
 enough to eat and drink, Nestor, horseman of Gerene, began to speak.

"Now," said he, "that our guests have done their
 dinner, it will be best to ask them who they are. Who, then, sir strangers, are
 you, and from what port have you sailed? Are you traders? Or do you sail the
 seas as rovers with your hand against every man, and every man's hand against
 you?" 

 
 Telemakhos answered boldly, for Athena had given
 him courage to ask about his father and get himself a good name [ kleos ]. 

 
 "Nestor," said he, "son of Neleus, honor to the
 Achaean name, you ask whence we come, and I will tell you. We come from
 Ithaca under Neritum, and the
 matter about which I would speak is of private not public import. I seek news
 [ kleos ] of my unhappy father Odysseus, who is
 said to have sacked the town of Troy 
 in company with yourself. We know what fate befell each one of the other heroes
 who fought at Troy , but as regards
 Odysseus heaven has hidden from us the knowledge even that he is dead at all,
 for no one can certify us in what place he perished, nor say whether he fell in
 battle on the mainland, or was lost at sea amid the waves of Amphitrite.
 Therefore I am suppliant at your knees, if haply you may be pleased to tell me
 of his melancholy end, whether you saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from
 some other traveler, for he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things out
 of any pity for me, but tell me in all plainness exactly what you saw. If my
 brave father Odysseus ever did you loyal service, either by word or deed, when
 you Achaeans were harassed at the district [ dêmos ]
 of the Trojans, bear it in mind now as in my favor and tell me truly all." 

 
 "My friend," answered Nestor, "you recall a
 time of much sorrow to my mind, for the brave Achaeans suffered much both at
 sea, while privateering under Achilles, and in that district [ dêmos ] when fighting before the great city of king
 Priam. Our best men all of them fell there - Ajax, Achilles, Patroklos peer of
 gods in counsel, and my own dear son Antilokhos, a man singularly fleet of foot
 and in fight valiant. But we suffered much more than this; what mortal tongue
 indeed could tell the whole story? Though you were to stay here and question me
 for five years, or even six, I could not tell you all that the Achaeans
 suffered, and you would turn homeward weary of my tale before it ended. Nine
 long years did we try every kind of stratagem, but the hand of heaven was
 against us; during all this time there was no one who could compare with your
 father in subtlety - if indeed you are his son. I can hardly believe my eyes -
 and you talk just like him too - no one would say that people of such different
 ages could speak so much alike. He and I never had any kind of difference from
 first to last neither in camp nor council, but in singleness of heart and
 purpose [ noos ] we advised the Argives how all might
 be ordered for the best.

"When however, we had sacked the city of Priam,
 and were setting sail in our ships as heaven had dispersed us, then Zeus saw
 fit to vex the Argives on their homeward voyage [ nostos ]; for they had not all been either wise or just [ dikaios ], and hence many came to a bad end through the
 displeasure [ mênis ] of Zeus' daughter Athena, who
 brought about a quarrel between the two sons of Atreus. 

 
 "The sons of Atreus called a meeting which was
 not according to kosmos , for it was sunset and the
 Achaeans were heavy with wine. When they explained why they had called the
 people together, it seemed that Menelaos was for sailing homeward [ nostos ] at once, and this displeased Agamemnon, who
 thought that we should wait till we had offered hecatombs to appease the anger
 of Athena. Fool that he was, he might have known that he would not prevail with
 her, for when the gods have made up their minds [ noos ] they do not change them lightly. So the two stood bandying
 hard words, whereon the Achaeans sprang to their feet with a cry that rent the
 air, and were of two minds as to what they should do. 

 
 "That night we rested and nursed our anger, for
 Zeus was hatching mischief against us. But in the morning some of us drew our
 ships into the water and put our goods with our women on board, while the rest,
 about half in number, stayed behind with Agamemnon. We - the other half -
 embarked and sailed; and the ships went well, for heaven had smoothed the sea.
 When we reached Tenedos we offered
 sacrifices to the gods, for we were longing to get home [ nostos ]; cruel Zeus, however, did not yet mean that we should do so,
 and raised a second quarrel in the course of which some among us turned their
 ships back again, and sailed away under Odysseus to make their peace with
 Agamemnon; but I, and all the ships that were with me pressed forward, for I
 saw that mischief was brewing. The son of Tydeus went on also with me, and his
 crews with him. Later on Menelaos joined us at Lesbos , and found us making up our minds about our course - for
 we did not know whether to go outside Chios by the island of Psyra, keeping this to our left, or
 inside Chios , over against the stormy
 headland of Mimas. So we asked heaven [ daimôn ] for
 a sign, and were shown one to the effect that we should be soonest out of
 danger if we headed our ships across the open sea to Euboea . This we therefore did, and a fair wind
 sprang up which gave us a quick passage during the night to Geraistos , where we offered many
 sacrifices to Poseidon for having helped us so far on our way. Four days later
 Diomedes and his men stationed their ships in Argos , but I held on for Pylos , and the wind never fell light from the day when heaven
 first made it fair for me. 

 
 "Therefore, my dear young friend, I returned
 without hearing anything about the others. I know neither who got home safely
 nor who were lost but, as in duty bound, I will give you without reserve the
 reports that have reached me since I have been here in my own house. They say
 the Myrmidons returned home safely under Achilles' son Neoptolemos; so also did
 the valiant son of Poias, Philoctetes. Idomeneus, again, lost no men at sea,
 and all his followers who escaped death in the field got safe home with him to
 Crete . No matter how far out of the
 world you live, you will have heard of Agamemnon and the bad end he came to at
 the hands of Aigisthos - and a fearful reckoning did Aigisthos presently pay.
 See what a good thing it is for a man to leave a son behind him to do as
 Orestes did, who killed false Aigisthos the murderer of his noble father. You
 too, then - for you are a tall, smart-looking young man - show your mettle and
 make yourself a name in story."

"Nestor son of Neleus," answered Telemakhos,
 "honor to the Achaean name, the Achaeans will bear the kleos of Orestes in song even to future generations, for he has
 avenged his father nobly. Would that heaven might grant me to do like vengeance
 on the insolence of the wicked suitors, who are ill treating me and plotting my
 ruin; but the gods have no such happiness [ olbos ]
 in store for me and for my father, so we must bear it as best we may." 

 
 "My friend," said Nestor, "now that you remind
 me, I remember to have heard that your mother has many suitors, who are ill
 disposed towards you and are making havoc of your estate. Do you submit to this
 tamely, or are the people of the dêmos , following
 the voice of a god, against you? Who knows but that Odysseus may come back
 after all, and pay these scoundrels in full, either single-handed or with a
 force of Achaeans behind him? If Athena were to take as great a liking to you
 as she did to Odysseus when we were fighting in the Trojan dêmos (for I never yet saw the gods so openly fond of any one as
 Athena then was of your father), if she would take as good care of you as she
 did of him, these wooers would soon some of them forget their wooing." 

 
 Telemakhos answered, "I can expect nothing of
 the kind; it would be far too much to hope for. I dare not let myself think of
 it. Even though the gods themselves willed it no such good fortune could befall
 me." 

 
 On this Athena said, "Telemakhos, what are you
 talking about? Heaven has a long arm if it is minded to save a man; and if it
 were me, I should not care how much I suffered before getting home, provided I
 could be safe when I was once there. I would rather this, than get home
 quickly, and then be killed in my own house as Agamemnon was by the treachery
 of Aigisthos and his wife. Still, death is certain, and when a man's hour is
 come, not even the gods can save him, no matter how fond they are of him."

"Mentor," answered Telemakhos, "do not let us
 talk about it any more. There is no chance of my father's ever coming back
 [ nostos ]; the gods have long since counseled his
 destruction. There is something else, however, about which I should like to ask
 Nestor, for he knows much more than any one else does. They say he has reigned
 for three generations so that it is like talking to an immortal. Tell me,
 therefore, Nestor, and tell me true [ alêthês ]; how
 did Agamemnon come to die in that way? What was Menelaos doing? And how came
 false Aigisthos to kill so far better a man than himself? Was Menelaos away
 from Achaean Argos, voyaging elsewhere among humankind, that Aigisthos took
 heart and killed Agamemnon?" 

 
 "I will tell you truly [ alêthês ]," answered Nestor, "and indeed you have yourself divined
 how it all happened. If Menelaos when he got back from Troy had found Aigisthos still alive in his
 house, there would have been no grave marker heaped up for him, not even when
 he was dead, but he would have been thrown outside the city to dogs and
 vultures, and not a woman would have mourned him, for he had done a deed of
 great wickedness; but we were over there, fighting hard [ athlos ] at Troy , and
 Aigisthos who was taking his ease quietly in the heart of Argos , cajoled Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra
 with incessant flattery. 

 
 "At first she would have nothing to do with his
 wicked scheme, for she was of a good natural disposition; moreover there was a
 singer with her, to whom Agamemnon had given strict orders on setting out for
 Troy , that he was to keep guard
 over his wife; but when heaven had counseled her destruction, Aigisthos led
 this bard off to a desert island and left him there for crows and seagulls to
 batten upon - after which she went willingly enough to the house of Aigisthos.
 Then he offered many burnt sacrifices to the gods, and decorated many temples
 with tapestries and gilding, for he had succeeded far beyond his
 expectations. 

 
 "Meanwhile Menelaos and I were on our way home
 from Troy , on good terms with one
 another. When we got to Sounion ,
 which is the point of Athens ,
 Apollo with his painless shafts killed Phrontis the steersman of Menelaos' ship
 (and never man knew better how to handle a vessel in rough weather) so that he
 died then and there with the helm in his hand, and Menelaos, though very
 anxious to press forward, had to wait in order to bury his comrade and give him
 his due funeral rites. Presently, when he too could put to sea again, and had
 sailed on as far as the Malean heads, Zeus counseled evil against him and made
 it blow hard till the waves ran mountains high. Here he divided his fleet and
 took the one half towards Crete where
 the Cydonians dwell round about the waters of the river Iardanos. There is a
 high headland hereabouts stretching out into the sea from a place called
 Gortyn , and all along this part
 of the coast as far as Phaistos 
 the sea runs high when there is a south wind blowing, but past Phaistos the coast is more protected, for
 a small headland can make a great shelter. Here this part of the fleet was
 driven on to the rocks and wrecked; but the crews just managed to save
 themselves. As for the other five ships, they were taken by winds and seas to
 Egypt , where Menelaos gathered much
 gold and substance among people of an alien speech. Meanwhile Aigisthos here at
 home plotted his evil deed. For seven years after he had killed Agamemnon he
 ruled in Mycenae , and the people
 were obedient under him, but in the eighth year Orestes came back from
 Athens to be his bane, and
 killed the murderer of his father. Then he celebrated the funeral rites of his
 mother and of false Aigisthos by a banquet to the people of Argos , and on that very day Menelaos came
 home, with as much treasure as his ships could carry.

"Take my advice then, and do not go traveling
 about for long so far from home, nor leave your property with such dangerous
 people in your house; they will eat up everything you have among them, and you
 will have been on a fool's errand. Still, I should advise you by all means to
 go and visit Menelaos, who has lately come off a voyage among such distant
 peoples as no man could ever hope to get back from, when the winds had once
 carried him so far out of his reckoning; even birds cannot fly the distance in
 a twelvemonth, so vast and terrible are the seas that they must cross. Go to
 him, therefore, by sea, and take your own men with you; or if you would rather
 travel by land you can have a chariot, you can have horses, and here are my
 sons who can escort you to Lacedaemon 
 where Menelaos lives. Beg of him to speak the truth, and he will tell you no
 lies, for he is an excellent person." 

 
 As he spoke the sun set and it came on dark,
 whereon Athena said, "Sir, all that you have said is well; now, however, order
 the tongues of the victims to be cut, and mix wine that we may make
 drink-offerings to Poseidon, and the other immortals, and then go to bed, for
 it is bed time [ hôra ]. People should go away early
 and not keep late hours at a religious festival." 

 
 Thus spoke the daughter of Zeus, and they
 obeyed her saying. Men servants poured water over the hands of the guests,
 while pages filled the mixing-bowls with wine and water, and handed it round
 after giving every man his drink-offering; then they threw the tongues of the
 victims into the fire, and stood up to make their drink-offerings. When they
 had made their offerings and had drunk each as much as he was minded, Athena
 and Telemakhos were for going on board their ship, but Nestor caught them up at
 once and stayed them. 

 
 "Heaven and the immortal gods," he exclaimed,
 "forbid that you should leave my house to go on board of a ship. Do you think I
 am so poor and short of clothes, or that I have so few cloaks and as to be
 unable to find comfortable beds both for myself and for my guests? Let me tell
 you I have store both of rugs and cloaks, and shall not permit the son of my
 old friend Odysseus to camp down on the deck of a ship - not while I live - nor
 yet will my sons after me, but they will keep open house as I have done."

Then Athena answered, "Sir, you have spoken
 well, and it will be much better that Telemakhos should do as you have said;
 he, therefore, shall return with you and sleep at your house, but I must go
 back to give orders to my crew, and keep them in good heart. I am the only
 older person among them; the rest are all young men of Telemakhos' own age, who
 have taken this voyage out of friendship; so I must return to the ship and
 sleep there. Moreover tomorrow I must go to the Cauconians where I have a large
 sum of wealth long owed to me. As for Telemakhos, now that he is your guest,
 send him to Lacedaemon in a chariot,
 and let one of your sons go with him. Be pleased also to provide him with your
 best and fleetest horses." 

 
 When she had thus spoken, she flew away in the
 form of an eagle, and all marveled as they beheld it. Nestor was astonished,
 and took Telemakhos by the hand. "My friend," said he, "I see that you are
 going to be a great hero some day, since the gods wait upon you thus while you
 are still so young. This can have been none other of those who dwell in heaven
 than Zeus' redoubtable daughter, the Trito-born, who showed such favor towards
 your brave father among the Argives." "Holy queen," he continued, "agree to
 send down noble kleos upon myself, my good wife,
 and my children. In return, I will offer you in sacrifice a broad-browed heifer
 of a year old, unbroken, and never yet brought by man under the yoke. I will
 gild her horns, and will offer her up to you in sacrifice." 

 
 Thus did he pray, and Athena heard his prayer.
 He then led the way to his own house, followed by his sons and sons-in-law.
 When they had got there and had taken their places on the benches and seats, he
 mixed them a bowl of sweet wine that was eleven years old when the housekeeper
 took the lid off the jar that held it. As he mixed the wine, he prayed much and
 made drink-offerings to Athena, daughter of Aegis-bearing Zeus. Then, when they
 had made their drink-offerings and had drunk each as much as he was minded, the
 others went home to bed each in his own abode; but Nestor put Telemakhos to
 sleep in the room that was over the gateway along with Peisistratos, who was
 the only unmarried son now left him. As for himself, he slept in an inner room
 of the house, with the queen his wife by his side. 

 
 Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered
 Dawn, appeared, Nestor left his couch and took his seat on the benches of white
 and polished marble that stood in front of his house. Here aforetime sat
 Neleus, peer of gods in counsel, but he was now dead, and had gone to the house
 of Hades; so Nestor sat in his seat, scepter in hand, as guardian of the public
 weal. His sons as they left their rooms gathered round him, Echephron,
 Stratios, Perseus, Aretos, and Thrasymedes; the sixth son was Peisistratos, and
 when Telemakhos joined them they made him sit with them. Nestor then addressed
 them.

"My sons," said he, "make haste to do as I
 shall bid you. I wish first and foremost to propitiate the great goddess
 Athena, who manifested herself visibly to me during yesterday's festivities.
 Go, then, one or other of you to the plain, tell the stockman to look me out a
 heifer, and come on here with it at once. Another must go to Telemakhos' ship,
 and invite all the crew, leaving two men only in charge of the vessel. Some one
 else will run and fetch Laerceus the goldsmith to gild the horns of the heifer.
 The rest, stay all of you where you are; tell the maids in the house to prepare
 an excellent dinner, and to fetch seats, and logs of wood for a burnt offering.
 Tell them also to bring me some clear spring water." 

 
 On this they hurried off on their several
 errands. The heifer was brought in from the plain, and Telemakhos' crew came
 from the ship; the goldsmith brought the anvil, hammer, and tongs, with which
 he worked his gold, and Athena herself came to the sacrifice. Nestor gave out
 the gold, and the smith gilded the horns of the heifer that the goddess might
 have pleasure in their beauty. Then Stratios and Echephron brought her in by
 the horns; Aretos fetched water from the house in a ewer that had a flower
 pattern on it, and in his other hand he held a basket of barley meal; sturdy
 Thrasymedes stood by with a sharp axe, ready to strike the heifer, while
 Perseus held a bucket. Then Nestor began with washing his hands and sprinkling
 the barley meal, and he offered many a prayer to Athena as he threw a lock from
 the heifer's head upon the fire. 

 
 When they had done praying and sprinkling the
 barley meal Thrasymedes dealt his blow, and brought the heifer down with a
 stroke that cut through the tendons at the base of her neck, whereon the
 daughters and daughters-in-law of Nestor, and his venerable wife Eurydice (she
 was eldest daughter to Klymenos) screamed with delight. Then they lifted the
 heifer's head from off the ground, and Peisistratos cut her throat. When she
 had done bleeding and was quite dead, they cut her up. They cut out the thigh
 bones all in due course, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, and set some
 pieces of raw meat on the top of them; then Nestor laid them upon the wood fire
 and poured wine over them, while the young men stood near him with five-pronged
 spits in their hands. When the thighs were burned and they had tasted the
 inward meats, they cut the rest of the meat up small, put the pieces on the
 spits and toasted them over the fire. 

 
 Meanwhile lovely Polykaste, Nestor's youngest
 daughter, washed Telemakhos. When she had washed him and anointed him with oil,
 she brought him a fair mantle and shirt, and he looked like a god as he came
 from the bath and took his seat by the side of Nestor. When the outer meats
 were done they drew them off the spits and sat down to dinner where they were
 waited upon by some worthy henchmen, who kept pouring them out their wine in
 cups of gold. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink Nestor said,
 "Sons, put Telemakhos' horses to the chariot that he may start at once."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had
 said, and yoked the fleet horses to the chariot. The housekeeper packed them up
 a provision of bread, wine, and sweetmeats fit for the sons of princes. Then
 Telemakhos got into the chariot, while Peisistratos gathered up the reins and
 took his seat beside him. He lashed the horses on and they flew forward nothing
 loath into the open country, leaving the high citadel of Pylos behind them. All that day did they
 travel, swaying the yoke upon their necks till the sun went down and darkness
 was over all the land. Then they reached Pherai where Diokles lived, who was son to Ortilokhos and
 grandson to Alpheus. Here they passed the night and Diokles entertained them
 hospitably. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn; appeared, they again
 yoked their horses and drove out through the gateway under the echoing
 gatehouse. Peisistratos lashed the horses on and they flew forward nothing
 loath; presently they came to the wheat lands of the open country, and in the
 course of time completed their journey, so well did their steeds take them. 

 
 Now when the sun had set and darkness was over
 the land,

They reached the low lying city of Lacedaemon , where they drove straight to the
 halls of Menelaos. They found him in his own house, feasting with his many
 clansmen in honor of the wedding of his son, and also of his daughter, whom he
 was marrying to the son of that valiant warrior Achilles. He had given his
 consent and promised her to him while he was still at Troy , and now the gods were bringing the
 marriage about; so he was sending her with chariots and horses to the city of
 the Myrmidons over whom Achilles’ son was reigning. For his only son he had
 found a bride from Sparta , daughter
 of Alektor. This son, Megapenthes, was born to him of a bondwoman, for heaven
 granted Helen no more children after she had borne Hermione, who was fair as
 golden Aphrodite herself. 

 
 So the neighbors and kinsmen of Menelaos were
 feasting and making merry in his house. There was a singer also to sing to them
 and play his lyre, while two tumblers went about performing in the midst of
 them when the man struck up with his tune. 

 
 Telemakhos and the son of Nestor stayed their
 horses at the gate, whereon Eteoneus servant to Menelaos came out, and as soon
 as he saw them ran hurrying back into the house to tell his Master. He went
 close up to him and said, "Menelaos, there are some strangers come here, two
 men, who look like sons of Zeus. What are we to do? Shall we take their horses
 out, or tell them to find friends elsewhere as they best can?" 

 
 Menelaos was very angry and said, "Eteoneus, son
 of Boethoos, you never used to be a fool, but now you talk like a simpleton.
 Take their horses out, of course, and show the strangers in that they may have
 supper; you and I have stayed often enough at other people's houses before we
 got back here, where heaven grant that we may rest in peace henceforward."

So Eteoneus bustled back and bade other servants
 come with him. They took their sweating hands from under the yoke, made them
 fast to the mangers, and gave them a feed of oats and barley mixed. Then they
 leaned the chariot against the end wall of the courtyard, and led the way into
 the house. Telemakhos and Peisistratos were astonished when they saw it, for
 its splendor was as that of the sun and moon; then, when they had admired
 everything to their heart's content, they went into the bath room and washed
 themselves. 

 
 When the servants had washed them and anointed
 them with oil, they brought them woolen cloaks and shirts, and the two took
 their seats by the side of Menelaos. A maidservant brought them water in a
 beautiful golden ewer, and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their
 hands; and she drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them
 bread, and offered them many good things of what there was in the house, while
 the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and set cups of gold by
 their side. 

 
 Menelaos then greeted them saying, "Eat up, and
 welcome; when you have finished supper I shall ask who you are, for the lineage
 of such men as you cannot have been lost. You must be descended from a line of
 scepter-bearing kings, for poor people do not have such sons as you are." 

 
 On this he handed them a piece of fat roast
 loin, which had been set near him as being a prime part, and they laid their
 hands on the good things that were before them; as soon as they had had enough
 to eat and drink, Telemakhos said to the son of Nestor, with his head so close
 that no one might hear, "Look, Peisistratos, man after my own heart, see the
 gleam of bronze and gold - of amber, ivory, and silver. Everything is so
 splendid that it is like seeing the palace of Olympian Zeus. I am lost in
 admiration."

Menelaos overheard him and said, "No one, my
 sons, can hold his own with Zeus, for his house and everything about him is
 immortal; but among mortal men - well, there may be another who has as much
 wealth as I have, or there may not; but at all events I have traveled much and
 have undergone much hardship, for it was nearly eight years before I could get
 home with my fleet. I went to Cyprus ,
 Phoenicia and the Egyptians; I went
 also to the Ethiopians, the Sidonians, and the Erembians, and to Libya where the lambs have horns as soon as
 they are born, and the sheep bear lambs three times a year. Every one in that
 country, whether master or man, has plenty of cheese, meat, and good milk, for
 the ewes yield all the year round. But while I was traveling and getting great
 riches among these people, my brother was secretly and shockingly murdered
 through the perfidy of his wicked wife, so that I have no pleasure in being
 lord of all this wealth. Whoever your parents may be they must have told you
 about all this, and of my heavy loss in the ruin of a stately mansion fully and
 magnificently furnished. Would that I had only a third of what I now have so
 that I had stayed at home, and all those were living who perished on the plain
 of Troy , far from Argos . I often grieve, as I sit here in my
 house, for one and all of them. At times I cry aloud for sorrow, but presently
 I leave off again, for crying is cold comfort and one soon tires of it. Yet
 grieve for these as I may, I do so for one man more than for them all. I cannot
 even think of him without loathing both food and sleep, so miserable does he
 make me, for no one of all the Achaeans worked so hard or risked so much as he
 did. He took nothing by it, and has left a legacy of sorrow [ akhos ] to myself, for he has been gone a long time,
 and we know not whether he is alive or dead. His old father, his long-suffering
 wife Penelope, and his son Telemakhos, whom he left behind him an infant in
 arms, are plunged in grief on his account." 

 
 Thus spoke Menelaos, and the heart of
 Telemakhos yearned as he bethought him of his father. Tears fell from his eyes
 as he heard him thus mentioned, so that he held his cloak before his face with
 both hands. When Menelaos saw this he doubted whether to let him choose his own
 time for speaking, or to ask him at once and find what it was all about. 

 
 While he was thus in two minds Helen came down
 from her high-vaulted and perfumed room, looking as lovely as Artemis herself.
 Adraste brought her a seat, Alkippe a soft woolen rug, while Phylo fetched her
 the silver work-box which Alkandra wife of Polybos had given her. Polybos lived
 in Egyptian Thebes, which is the richest city in the whole world; he gave
 Menelaos two baths, both of pure silver, two tripods, and ten talents of gold;
 besides all this, his wife gave Helen some beautiful presents, to wit, a golden
 distaff, and a silver work-box that ran on wheels, with a gold band round the
 top of it. Phylo now placed this by her side, full of fine spun yarn, and a
 distaff charged with violet colored wool was laid upon the top of it. Then
 Helen took her seat, put her feet upon the footstool, and began to question her
 husband. 

 
 "Do we know, Menelaos," said she, "the names of
 these strangers who have come to visit us? Shall I guess right or wrong? But I
 cannot help saying what I think. Never yet have I seen either man or woman so
 like somebody else (indeed when I look at him I hardly know what to think) as
 this young man is like Telemakhos, whom Odysseus left as a baby behind him,
 when you Achaeans went to Troy with
 battle in your hearts, on account of my most shameless self."

"My dear wife," replied Menelaos, "I see the
 likeness just as you do. His hands and feet are just like Odysseus’ so is his
 hair, with the shape of his head and the expression of his eyes. Moreover, when
 I was talking about Odysseus, and saying how much he had suffered on my
 account, tears fell from his eyes, and he hid his face in his mantle." 

 
 Then Peisistratos said, "Menelaos, son of
 Atreus, you are right in thinking that this young man is Telemakhos, but he is
 very modest, and is ashamed to come here and begin opening up discourse with
 one whose conversation is so divinely interesting as your own. My father,
 Nestor, sent me to escort him hither, for he wanted to know whether you could
 give him any counsel or suggestion. A son has always trouble at home when his
 father has gone away leaving him without supporters; and this is how Telemakhos
 is now placed, for his father is absent, and there is no one among his own
 dêmos to stand by him." 

 
 "Bless my heart," replied Menelaos; "then I am
 receiving a visit from the son of a very dear friend, who suffered much
 hardship [ athlos ] for my sake. I had always hoped
 to entertain him with most marked distinction when heaven had granted us a safe
 return [ nostos ] from beyond the seas. I should have
 founded a city for him in Argos , and
 built him a house. I should have made him leave Ithaca with his goods, his son, and all his people, and should
 have sacked for them some one of the neighboring cities that are subject to me.
 We should thus have seen one another continually, and nothing but death could
 have interrupted so close and happy an intercourse. I suppose, however, that
 heaven grudged us such good fortune, for it has prevented the poor man from
 ever getting home at all." 

 
 Thus did he speak, and his words set them all
 to weeping. Helen wept, Telemakhos wept, and so did Menelaos, nor could
 Peisistratos keep his eyes from filling, when he remembered his dear brother
 Antilokhos whom the son of bright Dawn had killed. Thereon he said to
 Menelaos,

"Sir, my father Nestor, when we used to talk
 about you at home, told me you were a person of rare and excellent
 understanding. If, then, it be possible, do as I would urge you. I am not fond
 of crying while I am getting my supper. Morning will come in due course, and in
 the forenoon I care not how much I cry for those that are dead and gone. This
 is all we can do for the poor things. We can only shave our heads for them and
 wring the tears from our cheeks. I had a brother who died at Troy ; he was by no means the worst man there;
 you are sure to have known him - his name was Antilokhos; I never set eyes upon
 him myself, but they say that he was singularly fleet of foot and in fight
 valiant." 

 
 "Your discretion, my friend," answered
 Menelaos, "is beyond your years. It is plain you take after your father. One
 can soon see when a man is son to one whom Zeus grants blessedness [ olbos ] both as regards wife and offspring - and he has
 blessed Nestor from first to last all his days, giving him a green old age in
 his own house, with sons about him who are both well disposed and valiant. We
 will put an end therefore to all this weeping, and attend to our supper again.
 Let water be poured over our hands. Telemakhos and I can talk with one another
 fully in the morning." 

 
 On this Asphalion, one of the servants, poured
 water over their hands and they laid their hands on the good things that were
 before them. 

 
 Then Zeus’ daughter Helen bethought her of
 another matter. She drugged the wine with the herb nêpenthes [= anti- penthos ], which
 banishes all care, sorrow, and anger. Whoever drinks wine thus drugged cannot
 shed a single tear all the rest of the day, not even though his father and
 mother both of them drop down dead, or he sees a brother or a son hewn in
 pieces before his very eyes. This drug, of such sovereign power and virtue, had
 been given to Helen by Polydamna wife of Thon , a woman of Egypt , where there grow all sorts of herbs, some good to put into
 the mixing-bowl and others poisonous. Moreover, every one in the whole country
 is a skilled physician, for they are of the race of Paieon. When Helen had put
 this drug in the bowl, and had told the servants to serve the wine round, she
 said:

"Menelaos, son of Atreus, and you my good
 friends, sons of honorable men (which is as Zeus wills, for he is the giver
 both of good and evil, and can do what he chooses), feast here as you will, and
 listen while I tell you a tale in season. I cannot indeed name every single one
 of the exploits [ athlos ] of Odysseus, but I can say
 what he did when he was in the Trojan dêmos , and
 you Achaeans were in all sorts of difficulties. He covered himself with wounds
 and bruises, dressed himself all in rags, and entered the enemy's city looking
 like a menial or a beggar, quite different from how he looked when he was among
 his own people. In this disguise he entered the city of Troy , and no one said anything to him. I
 alone recognized him and began to question him, but he was too cunning for me.
 When, however, I had washed and anointed him and had given him clothes, and
 after I had sworn a solemn oath not to betray him to the Trojans till he had
 got safely back to his own camp and to the ships, he explained to me the whole
 noos of the Achaeans. He killed many Trojans and
 got much information before he reached the Argive camp, for all which things the Trojan women made
 lamentation, but for my own part I was glad, for my heart was beginning to long
 after my home, and I was unhappy about the wrong [ atê ] that Aphrodite had done me in taking me over there, away from
 my country, my girl, and my lawful wedded husband, who is indeed by no means
 deficient either in looks or understanding." 

 
 Then Menelaos said, "All that you have been
 saying, my dear wife, is true. I have traveled much, and have learned the plans
 and noos of many a hero, but I have never seen such
 another man as Odysseus. What endurance too, and what courage he displayed
 within the wooden horse, wherein all the bravest of the Argives were lying in
 wait to bring death and destruction upon the Trojans. At that moment you came
 up to us; some daimôn who wished well to the
 Trojans must have set you on to it and you had Deiphobos with you. Three times
 did you go all round our hiding place and pat it; you called our chiefs each by
 his own name, and mimicked all our wives. Diomedes, Odysseus, and I from our
 seats inside heard what a noise you made. Diomedes and I could not make up our
 minds whether to spring out then and there, or to answer you from inside, but
 Odysseus held us all in check, so we sat quite still, all except Antiklos, who
 was beginning to answer you, when Odysseus clapped his two brawny hands over
 his mouth, and kept them there. It was this that saved us all, for he muzzled
 Antiklos till Athena took you away again." 

 
 "How sad," exclaimed Telemakhos, "that all this
 was of no avail to save him, nor yet his own iron courage. But now, sir, be
 pleased to send us all to bed, that we may lie down and enjoy the blessed boon
 of sleep." 

 
 On this Helen told the maid servants to set
 beds in the room that was in the gatehouse, and to make them with good red
 rugs, and spread coverlets on the top of them with woolen cloaks for the guests
 to wear. So the maids went out, carrying a torch, and made the beds, to which a
 man-servant presently conducted the strangers. Thus, then, did Telemakhos and
 Peisistratos sleep there in the forecourt, while the son of Atreus lay in an
 inner room with lovely Helen by his side.

When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
 appeared, Menelaos rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to his
 comely feet, girded his sword about his shoulders, and left his room looking
 like an immortal god. Then, taking a seat near Telemakhos he said: 

 
 "And what, Telemakhos, has led you to take this
 long sea voyage to Lacedaemon ? Are you
 on public or private business? Tell me all about it." 

 
 "I have come, sir replied Telemakhos, "to see
 if you can tell me anything about my father. I am being eaten out of house and
 home; my fair estate is being wasted, and my house is full of miscreants who in
 overweening hubris keep killing great numbers of my
 sheep and oxen, on the pretense of wooing my mother. Therefore, I am suppliant
 at your knees if haply you may tell me about my father's melancholy end,
 whether you saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some other traveler;
 for he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things out of any pity for
 myself, but tell me in all plainness exactly what you saw. If my brave father
 Odysseus ever did you loyal service either by word or deed, when you Achaeans
 were harassed in the dêmos of the Trojans, bear it
 in mind now as in my favor and tell me truly all." 

 
 Menelaos on hearing this was very much shocked.
 "So," he exclaimed, "these cowards would usurp a brave man's bed? A hind might
 as well lay her new born young in the lair of a lion, and then go off to feed
 in the forest or in some grassy dell: the lion when he comes back to his lair
 will make short work with the pair of them - and so will Odysseus with these
 suitors. By father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, if Odysseus is still the man that
 he was when he wrestled with Philomeleides in Lesbos , and threw him so heavily that all the Achaeans cheered
 him - if he is still such and were to come near these suitors, they would have
 a swift doom and a sorry wedding. As regards your questions, however, I will
 not prevaricate nor deceive you, but will tell you without concealment all that
 the old man of the sea told me.

"I was trying to come on here, but the gods
 detained me in Egypt , for my hecatombs
 had not given them full satisfaction, and the gods are very strict about having
 their dues. Now off Egypt , about as
 far as a ship can sail in a day with a good stiff breeze behind her, there is
 an island called Pharos - it has a good harbor from which vessels can get out
 into open sea when they have taken in water - and the gods becalmed me twenty
 days without so much as a breath of fair wind to help me forward. We should
 have run clean out of provisions and my men would have starved, if a goddess
 had not taken pity upon me and saved me in the person of Eidothea, daughter to
 Proteus, the old man of the sea, for she had taken a great fancy to me. 

 
 "She came to me one day when I was by myself,
 as I often was, for the men used to go with their barbed hooks, all over the
 island in the hope of catching a fish or two to save them from the pangs of
 hunger. ‘Stranger,’ said she, ‘it seems to me that you like starving in this
 way - at any rate it does not greatly trouble you, for you stick here day after
 day, without even trying to get away though your men are dying by inches.’ 

 
 "‘Let me tell you,’ said I, ‘whichever of the
 goddesses you may happen to be, that I am not staying here of my own accord,
 but must have offended the gods that live in heaven. Tell me, therefore, for
 the gods know everything: which of the immortals it is that is hindering me in
 this way, and tell me also how I may sail the sea so as to reach my home [ nostos ]?’ 

 
 "‘Stranger,’ replied she, ‘I will make it all
 quite clear to you. There is an old immortal who lives under the sea hereabouts
 and whose name is Proteus. He is an Egyptian, and people say he is my father;
 he is Poseidon's head man and knows every inch of ground all over the bottom of
 the sea. If you can snare him and hold him tight, he will tell you about your
 voyage, what courses you are to take, and how you are to sail the sea so as to
 reach your home [ nostos ]. He will also tell you, if
 you so will, all that has been going on at your house both good and bad, while
 you have been away on your long and dangerous journey.’

"‘Can you show me,’ said I, ‘some strategy by
 means of which I may catch this old god without his suspecting it and finding
 me out? For a daimôn is not easily caught - not by
 a mortal man.’ 

 
 "‘Stranger,’ said she, ‘I will make it all
 quite clear to you. About the time when the sun shall have reached mid heaven,
 the old man of the sea comes up from under the waves, heralded by the West wind
 that furs the water over his head. As soon as he has come up he lies down, and
 goes to sleep in a great sea cave, where the seals - (Halosydne's chickens as
 they call them) - come up also from the gray sea, and go to sleep in shoals all
 round him; and a very strong and fish-like smell do they bring with them. Early
 tomorrow morning I will take you to this place and will lay you in ambush. Pick
 out [ krînô ], therefore, the three best men you have
 in your fleet, and I will tell you all the tricks that the old man will play
 you. 

 
 "‘First he will look over all his seals, and
 count them; then, when he has seen them and tallied them on his five fingers,
 he will go to sleep among them, as a shepherd among his sheep. The moment you
 see that he is asleep seize him; put forth all your strength [ biê ] and hold him fast, for he will do his very utmost
 to get away from you. He will turn himself into every kind of creature that
 goes upon the earth, and will become also both fire and water; but you must
 hold him fast and grip him tighter and tighter, till he begins to talk to you
 and comes back to what he was when you saw him go to sleep; then you may
 slacken your hold [ biê ] and let him go; and you can
 ask him which of the gods it is that is angry with you, and what you must do to
 reach your home [ nostos ] over the fishy sea.’ 

 
 "Having so said she dived under the waves,
 whereon I turned back to the place where my ships were ranged upon the shore;
 and my heart was clouded with care as I went along. When I reached my ship we
 got supper ready, for night was falling, and camped down upon the beach.

"When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
 appeared, I took the three men on whose prowess of all kinds I could most rely,
 and went along by the sea-side, praying heartily to heaven. Meanwhile the
 goddess fetched me up four seal skins from the bottom of the sea, all of them
 just skinned, for she meant to play a trick upon her father. Then she dug four
 pits for us to lie in, and sat down to wait till we should come up. When we
 were close to her, she made us lie down in the pits one after the other, and
 threw a seal skin over each of us. Our ambuscade would have been intolerable,
 for the stench of the fishy seals was most distressing - who would go to bed
 with a sea monster if he could help it?-but here, too, the goddess helped us,
 and thought of something that gave us great relief, for she put some ambrosia
 under each man's nostrils, which was so fragrant that it killed the smell of
 the seals. 

 
 "We waited the whole morning and made the best
 of it, watching the seals come up in hundreds to bask upon the sea shore, till
 at noon the old man of the sea came up too, and when he had found his fat seals
 he went over them and counted them. We were among the first he counted, and he
 never suspected any guile, but laid himself down to sleep as soon as he had
 done counting. Then we rushed upon him with a shout and seized him; on which he
 began at once with his old tricks, and changed himself first into a lion with a
 great mane; then all of a sudden he became a dragon, a leopard, a wild boar;
 the next moment he was running water, and then again directly he was a tree,
 but we stuck to him and never lost hold, till at last the cunning old creature
 became distressed, and said, Which of the gods was it, Son of Atreus, that
 hatched this plot with you for snaring me and seizing me against my will? What
 do you want?’ 

 
 "‘You know that yourself, old man,’ I answered.
 ‘You will gain nothing by trying to put me off. It is because I have been kept
 so long in this island, and see no sign of my being able to get away. I am
 losing all heart; tell me, then, for you gods know everything, which of the
 immortals it is that is hindering me, and tell me also how I may sail the sea
 so as to reach my home [ nostos ]?’ 

 
 "Then,’ he said, ‘if you would finish your
 voyage and get home quickly, you must offer sacrifices to Zeus and to the rest
 of the gods before embarking; for it is decreed that you shall not get back to
 your friends, and to your own house, till you have returned to the heaven-fed
 stream of Egypt , and offered holy
 hecatombs to the immortal gods that reign in heaven. When you have done this
 they will let you finish your voyage.’

"I was broken-hearted when I heard that I must
 go back all that long and terrible voyage to Egypt ; nevertheless, I answered, ‘I will do all, old man, that
 you have laid upon me; but now tell me, and tell me true, whether all the
 Achaeans whom Nestor and I left behind us when we set sail from Troy have got home safely, or whether any one
 of them came to a bad end either on board his own ship or among his friends
 when the days of his fighting were done.’ 

 
 "‘Son of Atreus,’ he answered, ‘why ask me? You
 had better not know my noos , for your eyes will
 surely fill when you have heard my story. Many of those about whom you ask are
 dead and gone, but many still remain, and only two of the chief men among the
 Achaeans perished during their return home. As for what happened on the field
 of battle - you were there yourself. A third Achaean leader is still at sea,
 alive, but hindered from returning [ nostos ]. Ajax
 was wrecked, for Poseidon drove him on to the great rocks of Gyrae;
 nevertheless, he let him get safe out of the water, and in spite of all
 Athena's hatred he would have escaped death, if he had not ruined himself by
 boasting. He said the gods could not drown him even though they had tried to do
 so, and when Poseidon heard this large talk, he seized his trident in his two
 brawny hands, and split the rock of Gyrae in two pieces. The base remained
 where it was, but the part on which Ajax was sitting fell headlong into the sea
 and carried Ajax with it; so he drank salt water and was drowned. 

 
 "‘Your brother and his ships escaped, for Hera
 protected him, but when he was just about to reach the high promontory of
 Malea, he was caught by a heavy gale which carried him out to sea again sorely
 against his will, and drove him to the foreland where Thyestes used to dwell,
 but where Aigisthos was then living. By and by, however, it seemed as though he
 was to return [ nostos ] safely after all, for the
 gods backed the wind into its old quarter and they reached home; whereon
 Agamemnon kissed his native soil, and shed tears of joy at finding himself in
 his own country. 

 
 "‘Now there was a watchman whom Aigisthos kept
 always on the watch, and to whom he had promised two talents of gold. This man
 had been looking out for a whole year to make sure that Agamemnon did not give
 him the slip and prepare war; when, therefore, this man saw Agamemnon go by, he
 went and told Aigisthos who at once began to lay a plot for him. He picked
 [ krînô ] twenty of his bravest warriors from the
 dêmos and placed them in ambuscade on one side
 the room, while on the opposite side he prepared a banquet. Then he sent his
 chariots and horsemen to Agamemnon, and invited him to the feast, but he meant
 foul play. He got him there, all unsuspicious of the doom that was awaiting
 him, and killed him when the banquet was over as though he were butchering an
 ox in the shambles; not one of Agamemnon's followers was left alive, nor yet
 one of Aigisthos’, but they were all killed there in the cloisters.’

"Thus spoke Proteus, and I was broken hearted
 as I heard him. I sat down upon the sands and wept; I felt as though I could no
 longer bear to live nor look upon the light of the sun. Presently, when I had
 had my fill of weeping and writhing upon the ground, the old man of the sea
 said, ‘Son of Atreus, do not waste any more time in crying so bitterly; it can
 do no manner of good; find your way home as fast as ever you can, for Aigisthos
 be still alive, and even though Orestes anticipates you in killing him, you may
 yet come in for his funeral.’ 

 
 "On this I took comfort in spite of all my
 sorrow, and said, ‘I know, then, about these two; tell me, therefore, about the
 third man of whom you spoke; is he still alive, but at sea, and unable to get
 home? Or is he dead? Tell me, no matter how much it may grieve me.’ 

 
 "‘The third man,’ he answered, ‘is Odysseus who
 dwells in Ithaca . I can see him in an
 island sorrowing bitterly in the house of the nymph Calypso, who is keeping him
 prisoner, and he cannot reach his home for he has no ships nor sailors to take
 him over the sea. As for your own end, Menelaos, you shall not die in
 Argos , but the gods will take you
 to the Elysian plain, which is at the ends of the world. There fair-haired
 Rhadamanthus reigns, and men lead an easier life than any where else in the
 world, for in Elysium there falls not rain, nor hail, nor snow, but Okeanos
 breathes ever with a West wind that sings softly from the sea, and gives fresh
 life to all men. This will happen to you because you have married Helen, and
 are Zeus’ son-in-law.’ 

 
 "As he spoke he dived under the waves, whereon
 I turned back to the ships with my companions, and my heart was clouded with
 care as I went along. When we reached the ships we got supper ready, for night
 was falling, and camped down upon the beach. When the child of morning,
 rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, we drew our ships into the water, and put our
 masts and sails within them; then we went on board ourselves, took our seats on
 the benches, and smote the gray sea with our oars. I again stationed my ships
 in the heaven-fed stream of Egypt , and
 offered hecatombs that were full and sufficient. When I had thus appeased
 heaven's anger, I raised a tomb to the memory of Agamemnon that his kleos might be inextinguishable, after which I had a
 quick passage home, for the gods sent me a fair wind.

"And now for yourself - stay here some ten or
 twelve days longer, and I will then speed you on your way. I will make you a
 noble present of a chariot and three horses. I will also give you a beautiful
 chalice that so long as you live you may think of me whenever you make a
 drink-offering to the immortal gods." 

 
 "Son of Atreus," replied Telemakhos, "do not
 press me to stay longer; I should be contented to remain with you for another
 twelve months; I find your conversation so delightful that I should never once
 wish myself at home with my parents; but my crew whom I have left at Pylos are already impatient, and you are
 detaining me from them. As for any present you may be disposed to make me, I
 had rather that it should he a piece of plate. I will take no horses back with
 me to Ithaca , but will leave them to
 adorn your own stables, for you have much flat ground in your kingdom where
 lotus thrives, as also meadowsweet and wheat and barley, and oats with their
 white and spreading ears; whereas in Ithaca we have neither open fields nor racecourses, and the
 country is more fit for goats than horses, and I like it the better for that.
 None of our islands have much level ground, suitable for horses, and Ithaca least of all." 

 
 Menelaos smiled and took Telemakhos’ hand
 within his own. "What you say," said he, "shows that you come of good family. I
 both can, and will, make this exchange for you, by giving you the finest and
 most precious piece of plate in all my house. It is a mixing-bowl by
 Hephaistos’ own hand, of pure silver, except the rim, which is inlaid with
 gold. Phaidimos, king of the Sidonians, gave it me in the course of a visit
 which I paid him when I returned there on my homeward journey. I will make you
 a present of it." 

 
 Thus did they converse as guests kept coming to
 the king's house. They brought sheep and wine, while their wives had put up
 bread for them to take with them; so they were busy cooking their dinners in
 the courts.

Meanwhile the suitors were throwing discs or
 aiming with spears at a mark on the leveled ground in front of Odysseus’ house,
 and were behaving with all their old hubris .
 Antinoos and Eurymakhos, who were their ringleaders and much the foremost in
 aretê among them all, were sitting together when
 Noemon son of Phronios came up and said to Antinoos, 

 
 "Have we any idea, Antinoos, on what day
 Telemakhos returns from Pylos ? He
 has a ship of mine, and I want it, to cross over to Elis : I have twelve brood mares there with
 yearling mule foals by their side not yet broken in, and I want to bring one of
 them over here and break him." 

 
 They were astounded when they heard this, for
 they had made sure that Telemakhos had not gone to the city of Neleus. They
 thought he was only away somewhere on the farms, and was with the sheep, or
 with the swineherd; so Antinoos said, "When did he go? Tell me truly, and what
 young men did he take with him? Were they freemen or his own bondsmen - for he
 might manage that too? Tell me also, did you let him have the ship of your own
 free will because he asked you, or did he take it by force [ biê ] without your leave?" 

 
 "I lent it him," answered Noemon. "What else
 could I do when a man of his position said he was in a difficulty and asked me
 to oblige him? I could not possibly refuse. As for those who went with him they
 were the best young men we have in the dêmos , and I
 saw Mentor go on board as leader - or some god who was exactly like him. I
 cannot understand it, for I saw Mentor here myself yesterday morning, and yet
 he was then setting out for Pylos ."

Noemon then went back to his father's house,
 but Antinoos and Eurymakhos were very angry. They told the others to leave off
 competing [ athlos ], and to come and sit down along
 with themselves. When they came, Antinoos son of Eupeithes spoke in anger. His
 heart was black with rage, and his eyes flashed fire as he said: 

 
 "Good heavens, this voyage of Telemakhos is a
 very serious matter; we had made sure that it would come to nothing, but the
 young man has got away in spite of us, and with a crew picked [ krînô ] from the best of the dêmos , too. He will be giving us trouble presently; may Zeus destroy
 him with violence [ biê ] before he is full grown.
 Find me a ship, therefore, with a crew of twenty men, and I will lie in wait
 for him in the straits between Ithaca 
 and Samos ; he will then rue the day
 that he set out to try and get news of his father." 

 
 Thus did he speak, and the others applauded his
 saying; they then all of them went inside the buildings. 

 
 It was not long ere Penelope came to know what
 the suitors were plotting; for a man servant, Medon, overheard them from
 outside the outer court as they were laying their schemes within, and went to
 tell his mistress. As he crossed the threshold of her room Penelope said:
 "Medon, what have the suitors sent you here for? Is it to tell the maids to
 leave their master's business and cook dinner for them? I wish they may neither
 woo nor dine henceforward, neither here nor anywhere else, but let this be the
 very last time, for the waste you all make of my son's estate. Did not your
 fathers tell you when you were children how good Odysseus had been to them -
 never doing anything high-handed, nor speaking harshly to anybody in the dêmos ? Such is the justice [ dikê ] of divine kings: they may take a fancy to one man and dislike
 another, but Odysseus never did an unjust thing by anybody - which shows what
 bad hearts you have, and that there is no such thing as gratitude [ kharis ] left in this world."

Then Medon said, "I wish, my lady, that this
 were all; but they are plotting something much more dreadful now - may heaven
 frustrate their design. They are going to try and murder Telemakhos as he is
 coming home from Pylos and
 Lacedaemon , where he has been to
 get news of his father." 

 
 Then Penelope's heart sank within her, and for
 a long time she was speechless; her eyes filled with tears, and she could find
 no utterance. At last, however, she said, "Why did my son leave me? What
 business had he to go sailing off in ships that make long voyages over the
 ocean like sea-horses? Does he want to die without leaving any one behind him
 to keep up his name?" 

 
 "I do not know," answered Medon, "whether some
 god set him on to it, or whether he went on his own impulse to see if he could
 find out if his father was dead, or alive and on his way home [ nostos ]." 

 
 Then he went downstairs again, leaving Penelope
 in an agony of grief [ akhos ]. There were plenty of
 seats in the house, but she had no heart for sitting on any one of them; she
 could only fling herself on the floor of her own room and cry; whereon all the
 maids in the house, both old and young, gathered round her and began to cry
 too, till at last in a transport of sorrow she exclaimed,

"My dears, heaven has been pleased to try me
 with more affliction than any other woman of my age and country. First I lost
 my brave and lion-hearted husband, who had every good quality [ aretê ] under heaven, and whose kleos was great over all Hellas and middle Argos ; and now my darling son is at the mercy of the winds and
 waves, without my having heard one word about his leaving home. You hussies,
 there was not one of you would so much as think of giving me a call out of my
 bed, though you all of you very well knew when he was starting. If I had known
 he meant taking this voyage, he would have had to give it up, no matter how
 much he was bent upon it, or leave me a corpse behind him - one or other. Now,
 however, go some of you and call old Dolios, who was given me by my father on
 my marriage, and who is my gardener. Bid him go at once and tell everything to
 Laertes , who may be able to hit
 on some plan for enlisting public sympathy on our side, as against those who
 are trying to exterminate his own race and that of Odysseus." 

 
 Then the dear old nurse Eurykleia said, "You
 may kill me, my lady, or let me live on in your house, whichever you please,
 but I will tell you the real truth. I knew all about it, and gave him
 everything he wanted in the way of bread and wine, but he made me take my
 solemn oath that I would not tell you anything for some ten or twelve days,
 unless you asked or happened to hear of his having gone, for he did not want
 you to spoil your beauty by crying. And now, my lady, wash your face, change
 your dress, and go upstairs with your maids to offer prayers to Athena,
 daughter of Aegis-bearing Zeus, for she can save him even though he be in the
 jaws of death. Do not trouble Laertes: he has trouble enough already. Besides,
 I cannot think that the gods hate the race of the son of Arceisius so much, but
 there will be a son left to come up after him, and inherit both the house and
 the fair fields that lie far all round it." 

 
 With these words she made her mistress leave
 off crying, and dried the tears from her eyes. Penelope washed her face,
 changed her dress, and went upstairs with her maids. She then put some bruised
 barley into a basket and began praying to Athena. 

 
 "Hear me," she cried, "Daughter of
 Aegis-bearing Zeus, unweariable. If ever Odysseus while he was here burned you
 fat thigh bones of sheep or heifer, bear it in mind now as in my favor, and
 save my darling son from the villainy of the suitors."

She cried aloud as she spoke, and the goddess
 heard her prayer; meanwhile the suitors were clamorous throughout the covered
 room, and one of them said: 

 
 "The queen is preparing for her marriage with
 one or other of us. Little does she dream that her son has now been doomed to
 die." 

 
 This was what they said, but they did not know
 what was going to happen. Then Antinoos said, "Comrades, let there be no loud
 talking, lest some of it get carried inside. Let us be up and do that in
 silence, about which we are all of a mind." 

 
 He then chose [ krînô ] twenty men, and they went down to their ship and to the sea
 side; they drew the vessel into the water and got her mast and sails inside
 her; they bound the oars to the thole-pins with twisted thongs of leather, all
 in due course, and spread the white sails aloft, while their fine servants
 brought them their armor. Then they made the ship fast a little way out, came
 on shore again, got their suppers, and waited till night should fall.

But Penelope lay in her own room upstairs
 unable to eat or drink, and wondering whether her brave son would escape, or be
 overpowered by the wicked suitors. Like a lioness caught in the toils with
 huntsmen hemming her in on every side she thought and thought till she sank
 into a slumber, and lay on her bed bereft of thought and motion. 

 
 Then Athena bethought her of another matter,
 and made a vision in the likeness of Penelope's sister Iphthime daughter of
 Ikarios who had married Eumelos and lived in Pherai . She told the vision to go to the house of Odysseus, and
 to make Penelope leave off crying, so it came into her room by the hole through
 which the thong went for pulling the door to, and hovered over her head,
 saying, 

 
 "You are asleep, Penelope: the gods who live at
 ease will not suffer you to weep and be so sad. Your son has done them no
 wrong, so he will yet come back to you." 

 
 Penelope, who was sleeping sweetly at the gates
 of dreamland, answered, "Sister, why have you come here? You do not come very
 often, but I suppose that is because you live such a long way off. Am I, then,
 to leave off crying and refrain from all the sad thoughts that torture me? I,
 who have lost my brave and lion-hearted husband, who had every good quality
 [ aretê ] under heaven, and whose kleos was great over all Hellas and middle Argos ; and now my darling son has gone off on board of a ship -
 a foolish man who has never been used to undergoing ordeals [ ponos ], nor to going about among gatherings of men. I
 am even more anxious about him than about my husband; I am all in a tremble
 when I think of him, lest something should happen to him, either from the
 people in the dêmos where he has gone, or at sea,
 for he has many enemies who are plotting against him, and are bent on killing
 him before he can return home."

Then the vision said, "Take heart, and be not
 so much dismayed. There is one gone with him whom many a man would be glad
 enough to have stand by his side, I mean Athena; it is she who has compassion
 upon you, and who has sent me to bear you this message." 

 
 "Then," said Penelope, "if you are a god or
 have been sent here by divine commission, tell me also about that other unhappy
 one - is he still alive, or is he already dead and in the house of Hades?" 

 
 And the vision said, "I shall not tell you for
 certain whether he is alive or dead, and there is no use in idle
 conversation." 

 
 Then it vanished through the thong-hole of the
 door and was dissipated into thin air; but Penelope rose from her sleep
 refreshed and comforted, so vivid had been her dream.

Meantime the suitors went on board and sailed
 their ways over the sea, intent on murdering Telemakhos. Now there is a rocky
 islet called Asteris, of no great size, in mid channel between Ithaca and Samos , and there is a harbor on either side of it where a ship
 can lie. Here then the Achaeans placed themselves in ambush.

And now, as Dawn rose from her couch beside
 Tithonos - harbinger of light alike to mortals and immortals - the gods met in
 council and with them, Zeus the lord of thunder, who is their king. Thereon
 Athena began to tell them of the many sufferings of Odysseus, for she pitied
 him away there in the house of the nymph Calypso. 

 
 "Father Zeus," said she, "and all you other gods
 that live in everlasting bliss, I hope there may never be such a thing as a
 kind and well-disposed ruler any more, nor one who will govern equitably. I
 hope they will be all henceforth cruel and unjust, for there is not one of his
 subjects who has not forgotten Odysseus, who ruled them as though he were their
 father. There he is, lying in great pain in an island where dwells the nymph
 Calypso, who will not let him go; and he cannot get back to his own country,
 for he can find neither ships nor sailors to take him over the sea.
 Furthermore, wicked people are now trying to murder his only son Telemakhos,
 who is coming home from Pylos and
 Lacedaemon , where he has been to
 see if he can get news of his father." 

 
 "What, my dear, are you talking about?" replied
 her father. "Did you not send him there yourself, because you thought [ noos ] it would help Odysseus to get home and punish
 the suitors? Besides, you are perfectly able to protect Telemakhos, and to see
 him safely home again, while the suitors have to come hurrying back without
 having killed him." 

 
 When he had thus spoken, he said to his son
 Hermes, "Hermes, you are our messenger, go therefore and tell Calypso we have
 decreed that poor Odysseus is to return home [ nostos ]. He is to be convoyed neither by gods nor men, but after a
 perilous voyage of twenty days upon a raft he is to reach fertile Scheria , the land of the Phaeacians, who are
 near of kin to the gods, and will honor him as though he were one of ourselves.
 They will send him in a ship to his own country, and will give him more bronze
 and gold and raiment than he would have brought back from Troy , if he had had all his prize wealth and
 had got home without disaster. This is how we have settled that he shall return
 to his country and his friends."

Thus he spoke, and Hermes, guide and guardian,
 slayer of Argos , did as he was told.
 Forthwith he bound on his glittering golden sandals with which he could fly
 like the wind over land and sea. He took the wand with which he seals men's
 eyes in sleep or wakes them just as he pleases, and flew holding it in his hand
 over Pieria ; then he swooped down
 through the firmament till he reached the level of the sea, whose waves he
 skimmed like a cormorant that flies fishing every hole and corner of the ocean,
 and drenching its thick plumage in the spray. He flew and flew over many a
 weary wave, but when at last he got to the island which was his journey's end,
 he left the sea and went on by land till he came to the cave where the nymph
 Calypso lived. 

 
 He found her at home. There was a large fire
 burning on the hearth, and one could smell from far the fragrant reek of
 burning cedar and sandal wood. As for herself, she was busy at her loom,
 shooting her golden shuttle through the warp and singing beautifully. Round her
 cave there was a thick wood of alder, poplar, and sweet smelling cypress trees,
 wherein all kinds of great birds had built their nests - owls, hawks, and
 chattering sea-crows that have their business in the waters. A vine loaded with
 grapes was trained and grew luxuriantly about the mouth of the cave; there were
 also four running rills of water in channels cut pretty close together, and
 turned here and there so as to irrigate the beds of violets and luscious
 herbage over which they flowed. Even a god could not help being charmed with
 such a lovely spot, so Hermes stood still and looked at it; but when he had
 admired it sufficiently he went inside the cave. 

 
 Calypso knew him at once - for the gods all know
 each other, no matter how far they live from one another - but Odysseus was not
 within; he was on the sea-shore as usual, looking out upon the barren ocean
 with tears in his eyes, groaning and breaking his heart for sorrow. Calypso
 gave Hermes a seat and said: "Why have you come to see me, Hermes - honored,
 and ever welcome - for you do not visit me often? Say what you want; I will do
 it for you at once if I can, and if it can be done at all; but come inside, and
 let me set refreshment before you. 

 
 As she spoke she drew a table loaded with
 ambrosia beside him and mixed him some red nectar, so Hermes ate and drank till
 he had had enough, and then said:

"We are speaking god and goddess to one another,
 one another, and you ask me why I have come here, and I will tell you truly as
 you would have me do. Zeus sent me; it was no doing of mine; who could possibly
 want to come all this way over the sea where there are no cities full of people
 to offer me sacrifices or choice hecatombs? Nevertheless I had to come, for
 none of us other gods can cross Zeus, nor transgress his orders [his noos ]. He says that you have here the most ill-starred
 of all those who fought nine years before the city of King Priam and sailed
 home in the tenth year after having sacked it. On their way home [ nostos ] they erred against Athena, who raised both
 wind and waves against them, so that all his brave companions perished, and he
 alone was carried here by wind and tide. Zeus says that you are to let this by
 man go at once, for it is decreed that he shall not perish here, far from his
 own people, but shall return to his house and country and see his friends
 again." 

 
 Calypso trembled with rage when she heard this,
 "You gods," she exclaimed, "ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You are always
 jealous and hate seeing a goddess take a fancy to a mortal man, and live with
 him in open matrimony. So when rosy-fingered Dawn made love to Orion, you
 precious gods were all of you furious till Artemis went and killed him in
 Ortygia. So again when Demeter fell in love with Iasion, and yielded to him in
 a thrice ploughed fallow field, Zeus came to hear of it before so long and
 killed Iasion with his thunder-bolts. And now you are angry with me too because
 I have a man here. I found the poor creature sitting all alone astride of a
 keel, for Zeus had struck his ship with lightning and sunk it in mid ocean, so
 that all his crew were drowned, while he himself was driven by wind and waves
 on to my island. I got fond of him and cherished him, and had set my heart on
 making him immortal, so that he should never grow old all his days; still I
 cannot cross Zeus, nor bring his counsels [ noos ] to
 nothing; therefore, if he insists upon it, let the man go beyond the seas
 again; but I cannot send him anywhere myself for I have neither ships nor men
 who can take him. Nevertheless I will readily give him such advice, in all good
 faith, as will be likely to bring him safely to his own country." 

 
 "Then send him away," said Hermes, "and fear
 the mênis of Zeus, lest he grow angry and punish
 you"’ 

 
 On this he took his leave, and Calypso went out
 to look for Odysseus, for she had heard Zeus’ message. She found him sitting
 upon the beach with his eyes ever filled with tears, his sweet life wasting
 away as he mourned his nostos ; for he had got tired
 of Calypso, and though he was forced to sleep with her in the cave by night, it
 was she, not he, that would have it so. As for the daytime, he spent it on the
 rocks and on the sea-shore, weeping, crying aloud for his despair, and always
 looking out upon the sea. Calypso then went close up to him said:

"My poor man, you shall not stay here grieving
 and fretting your life out any longer. I am going to send you away of my own
 free will; so go, cut some beams of wood, and make yourself a large raft with
 an upper deck that it may carry you safely over the sea. I will put bread,
 wine, and water on board to save you from starving. I will also give you
 clothes, and will send you a fair wind to take you home, if the gods in heaven
 so will it - for they know more about these things, and can settle them better
 than I can." 

 
 Odysseus shuddered as he heard her. "Now
 goddess," he answered, "there is something behind all this; you cannot be
 really meaning to help me home when you bid me do such a dreadful thing as put
 to sea on a raft. Not even a well-found ship with a fair wind could venture on
 such a distant voyage: nothing that you can say or do shall make me go on board
 a raft unless you first solemnly swear that you mean me no mischief." 

 
 Calypso smiled at this and caressed him with
 her hand: "You know a great deal," said she, "but you are quite wrong here. May
 heaven above and earth below be my witnesses, with the waters of the river Styx
 - and this is the most solemn oath which a blessed god can take - that I mean
 you no sort of harm, and am only advising you to do exactly what I should do
 myself in your place. My noos is favorable towards
 you; my heart is not made of iron, and I am very sorry for you." 

 
 When she had thus spoken she led the way
 rapidly before him, and Odysseus followed in her steps; so the pair, goddess
 and man, went on and on till they came to Calypso's cave, where Odysseus took
 the seat that Hermes had just left. Calypso set meat and drink before him of
 the food that mortals eat; but her maids brought ambrosia and nectar for
 herself, and they laid their hands on the good things that were before them.
 When they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink, Calypso spoke,
 saying:

"Odysseus, noble son of Laertes , so you would start home to your
 own land at once? Good luck go with you, but if you could only know how much
 suffering is in store for you before you get back to your own country, you
 would stay where you are, keep house along with me, and let me make you
 immortal, no matter how anxious you may be to see this wife of yours, of whom
 you are thinking all the time, day after day; yet I flatter myself that I am no
 whit less tall or well-looking than she is, for it is not to be expected that a
 mortal woman should compare in beauty with an immortal." 

 
 "Goddess," replied Odysseus, "do not be angry
 with me about this. I am quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like so
 tall or so beautiful as yourself. She is only a woman, whereas you are an
 immortal. Nevertheless, I want to get home, and can think of nothing else. If
 some god wrecks me when I am on the sea, I will bear it and make the best of
 it. I have had infinite trouble both by land and sea already, so let this go
 with the rest." 

 
 Presently the sun set and it became dark,
 whereon the pair retired into the inner part of the cave and went to bed. 

 
 When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
 appeared, Odysseus put on his shirt and cloak, while the goddess wore a dress
 of a light gossamer fabric, very fine and graceful, with a beautiful golden
 girdle about her waist and a veil to cover her head. She at once set herself to
 think how she could speed Odysseus on his way. So she gave him a great bronze
 axe that suited his hands; it was sharpened on both sides, and had a beautiful
 olive-wood handle fitted firmly on to it. She also gave him a sharp adze, and
 then led the way to the far end of the island where the largest trees grew -
 alder, poplar and pine, that reached the sky - very dry and well seasoned, so
 as to sail light for him in the water. Then, when she had shown him where the
 best trees grew, Calypso went home, leaving him to cut them, which he soon
 finished doing. He cut down twenty trees in all and adzed them smooth, squaring
 them by rule in good workmanlike fashion. Meanwhile Calypso came back with some
 augers, so he bored holes with them and fitted the timbers together with bolts
 and rivets. He made the raft as broad as a skilled shipwright makes the beam of
 a large vessel, and he filed a deck on top of the ribs, and ran a gunwale all
 round it. He also made a mast with a yard arm, and a rudder to steer with. He
 fenced the raft all round with wicker hurdles as a protection against the
 waves, and then he threw on a quantity of wood. By and by Calypso brought him
 some linen to make the sails, and he made these too, excellently, making them
 fast with braces and sheets. Last of all, with the help of levers, he drew the
 raft down into the water.

In four days he had completed the whole work,
 and on the fifth Calypso sent him from the island after washing him and giving
 him some clean clothes. She gave him a goat skin full of black wine, and
 another larger one of water; she also gave him a wallet full of provisions, and
 found him in much good meat. Moreover, she made the wind fair and warm for him,
 and gladly did Odysseus spread his sail before it, while he sat and guided the
 raft skillfully by means of the rudder. He never closed his eyes, but kept them
 fixed on the Pleiads, on late-setting Boötes, and on the Bear - which men also
 call the Wain, and which turns round and round where it is, facing Orion, and
 alone never dipping into the stream of Okeanos - for Calypso had told him to
 keep this to his left. Seventeen days did he sail over the sea, and on the
 eighteenth the dim outlines of the mountains on the nearest part of the
 Phaeacian coast appeared, rising like a shield on the horizon. 

 
 But lord Poseidon, who was returning from the
 Ethiopians, caught sight of Odysseus a long way off, from the mountains of the
 Solymi. He could see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry, so
 he wagged his head and muttered to himself, saying, heavens, so the gods have
 been changing their minds about Odysseus while I was away in Ethiopia , and now he is close to the land of
 the Phaeacians, where it is decreed that he shall escape from the calamities
 that have befallen him. Still, he shall have plenty of hardship yet before he
 has done with it." 

 
 Thereon he gathered his clouds together,
 grasped his trident, stirred it round in the sea, and roused the rage of every
 wind that blows till earth, sea, and sky were hidden in cloud, and night sprang
 forth out of the heavens. Winds from East, South, North, and West fell upon him
 all at the same time, and a tremendous sea got up, so that Odysseus’ heart
 began to fail him. "Alas," he said to himself in his dismay, "what ever will
 become of me? I am afraid Calypso was right when she said I should have trouble
 by sea before I got back home. It is all coming true. How black is Zeus making
 heaven with his clouds, and what a sea the winds are raising from every quarter
 at once. I am now safe to perish. Blest and thrice blest were those Danaans who
 fell before Troy in the cause of
 [ kharis ] the sons of Atreus. Would that had been
 killed on the day when the Trojans were pressing me so sorely about the dead
 body of Achilles, for then I should have had due burial and the Achaeans would
 have honored my name [ kleos ]; but now it seems that
 I shall come to a most pitiable end." 

 
 As he spoke a sea broke over him with such
 terrific fury that the raft reeled again, and he was carried overboard a long
 way off. He let go the helm, and the force of the wind was so great that it
 broke the mast half way up, and both sail and yard went over into the sea. For
 a long time Odysseus was under water, and it was all he could do to rise to the
 surface again, for the clothes Calypso had given him weighed him down; but at
 last he got his head above water and spat out the bitter brine that was running
 down his face in streams. In spite of all this, however, he did not lose sight
 of his raft, but swam as fast as he could towards it, got hold of it, and
 climbed on board again so as to escape drowning. The sea took the raft and
 tossed it about as Autumn winds whirl thistledown round and round upon a road.
 (It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds were all at once
 tossing it back and forth.)

When he was in this plight, Ino daughter of
 Cadmus, also called Leukothea, saw him. She had formerly been a mere mortal,
 but had been since raised to the rank of a marine goddess. Seeing in what great
 distress Odysseus now was, she had compassion upon him, and, rising like a
 sea-gull from the waves, took her seat upon the raft. 

 
 "My poor good man," said she, "why is Poseidon
 so furiously angry with you? He is giving you a great deal of trouble, but for
 all his bluster he will not kill you. You seem to be a sensible person, do then
 as I bid you; strip, leave your raft to drive before the wind, and swim to the
 Phaeacian coast where better luck awaits you. And here, take my veil and put it
 round your chest; it is enchanted, and you can come to no harm so long as you
 wear it. As soon as you touch land take it off, throw it back as far as you can
 into the sea, and then go away again." With these words she took off her veil
 and gave it him. Then she dived down again like a sea-gull and vanished beneath
 the seething dark waters. 

 
 But Odysseus did not know what to think.
 "Alas," he said to himself in his dismay, "this is only some one or other of
 the gods who is luring me to ruin by advising me to will quit my raft. At any
 rate I will not do so at present, for the land where she said I should be quit
 of all troubles seemed to be still a good way off. I know what I will do - I am
 sure it will be best - no matter what happens I will stick to the raft as long
 as her timbers hold together, but when the sea breaks her up I will swim for
 it; I do not see how I can do any better than this." 

 
 While he was thus in two minds, Poseidon sent a
 terrible great wave that seemed to rear itself above his head till it broke
 right over the raft, which then went to pieces as though it were a heap of dry
 chaff tossed about by a whirlwind. Odysseus got astride of one plank and rode
 upon it as if he were on horseback; he then took off the clothes Calypso had
 given him, bound Ino's veil under his arms, and plunged into the sea - meaning
 to swim on shore. King Poseidon watched him as he did so, and wagged his head,
 muttering to himself and saying, "‘There now, swim up and down as you best can
 till you fall in with well-to-do people. I do not think you will be able to say
 that I have let you off too lightly." On this he lashed his horses and drove to
 Aigai where his palace is.

But Athena resolved to help Odysseus, so she
 bound the ways of all the winds except one, and made them lie quite still; but
 she roused a good stiff breeze from the North that should lay the waters till
 Odysseus reached the land of the Phaeacians where he would be safe. 

 
 Thereon he floated about for two nights and two
 days in the water, with a heavy swell on the sea and death staring him in the
 face; but when the third day broke, the wind fell and there was a dead calm
 without so much as a breath of air stirring. As he rose on the swell he looked
 eagerly ahead, and could see land quite near. Then, as children rejoice when
 their dear father begins to get better after having for a long time borne sore
 affliction sent him by some angry spirit, but the gods deliver him from evil,
 so was Odysseus thankful when he again saw land and trees, and swam on with all
 his strength that he might once more set foot upon dry ground. When, however,
 he got within earshot, he began to hear the surf thundering up against the
 rocks, for the swell still broke against them with a terrific roar. Everything
 was enveloped in spray; there were no harbors where a ship might ride, nor
 shelter of any kind, but only headlands, low-lying rocks, and mountain
 tops. 

 
 Odysseus’ heart now began to fail him, and he
 said despairingly to himself, "Alas, Zeus has let me see land after swimming so
 far that I had given up all hope, but I can find no landing place, for the
 coast is rocky and surf-beaten, the rocks are smooth and rise sheer from the
 sea, with deep water close under them so that I cannot climb out for want of
 foothold. I am afraid some great wave will lift me off my legs and dash me
 against the rocks as I leave the water - which would give me a sorry landing.
 If, on the other hand, I swim further in search of some shelving beach or
 harbor, a wind may carry me out to sea again sorely against my will, or heaven
 may send some great monster of the deep to attack me; for Amphitrite breeds
 many such, and I know that Poseidon is very angry with me." 

 
 While he was thus in two minds a wave caught
 him and took him with such force against the rocks that he would have been
 smashed and torn to pieces if Athena had not shown him what to do. He caught
 hold of the rock with both hands and clung to it groaning with pain till the
 wave retired, so he was saved that time; but presently the wave came on again
 and carried him back with it far into the sea- tearing his hands as the suckers
 of a octopus are torn when some one plucks it from its bed, and the stones come
 up along with it- even so did the rocks tear the skin from his strong hands,
 and then the wave drew him deep down under the water.

Here poor Odysseus would have certainly
 perished even in spite of his own destiny, if Athena had not helped him to keep
 his wits about him. He swam seaward again, beyond reach of the surf that was
 beating against the land, and at the same time he kept looking towards the
 shore to see if he could find some haven, or a spit that should take the waves
 aslant. By and by, as he swam on, he came to the mouth of a river, and here he
 thought would be the best place, for there were no rocks, and it afforded
 shelter from the wind. He felt that there was a current, so he prayed inwardly
 and said: 

 
 "Hear me, O King, whoever you may be, and save
 me from the anger of the sea-god Poseidon, for I approach you prayerfully.
 Anyone who has lost his way has at all times a claim even upon the gods,
 wherefore in my distress I draw near to your stream, and cling to the knees of
 your riverhood. Have mercy upon me, O king, for I declare myself your
 suppliant." 

 
 Then the god stayed his stream and stilled the
 waves, making all calm before him, and bringing him safely into the mouth of
 the river. Here at last Odysseus’ knees and strong hands failed him, for the
 sea had completely broken him. His body was all swollen, and his mouth and
 nostrils ran down like a river with sea-water, so that he could neither breathe
 nor speak, and lay swooning from sheer exhaustion; presently, when he had got
 his breath and came to himself again, he took off the scarf that Ino had given
 him and threw it back into the salt stream of the river, whereon Ino received
 it into her hands from the wave that bore it towards her. Then he left the
 river, laid himself down among the rushes, and kissed the bounteous earth. 

 
 "Alas," he cried to himself in his dismay,
 "what ever will become of me, and how is it all to end? If I stay here upon the
 river bed through the long watches of the night, I am so exhausted that the
 bitter cold and damp may make an end of me - for towards sunrise there will be
 a keen wind blowing from off the river. If, on the other hand, I climb the hill
 side, find shelter in the woods, and sleep in some thicket, I may escape the
 cold and have a good night's rest, but some savage beast may take advantage of
 me and devour me."

In the end he deemed it best to take to the
 woods, and he found one upon some high ground not far from the water. There he
 crept beneath two shoots of olive that grew from a single stock - the one
 ungrafted, while the other had been grafted. No wind, however squally, could
 break through the cover they afforded, nor could the sun's rays pierce them,
 nor the rain get through them, so closely did they grow into one another.
 Odysseus crept under these and began to make himself a bed to lie on, for there
 was a great litter of dead leaves lying about - enough to make a covering for
 two or three men even in hard winter weather. He was glad enough to see this,
 so he laid himself down and heaped the leaves all round him. Then, as one who
 lives alone in the country, far from any neighbor, hides a brand as fire-seed
 in the ashes to save himself from having to get a light elsewhere, even so did
 Odysseus cover himself up with leaves; and Athena shed a sweet sleep upon his
 eyes, closed his eyelids, and made him lose all memories of his sorrows
 .

So here Odysseus slept, overcome by sleep and
 toil; but Athena went off to the dêmos and city of
 the Phaeacians - a people who used to live in the fair town of Hypereia, near
 the lawless Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes were stronger in force [ biê ] than they and plundered them, so their king
 Nausithoos moved them thence and settled them in Scheria , far from all other people. He surrounded the city with
 a wall, built houses and temples, and divided the lands among his people; but
 he was dead and gone to the house of Hades, and King Alkinoos, whose counsels
 were inspired of heaven, was now reigning. To his house, then, did Athena go in
 furtherance of the return [ nostos ] of Odysseus. 

 
 She went straight to the beautifully decorated
 bedroom in which there slept a girl who was as lovely as a goddess, Nausicaa,
 daughter to King Alkinoos. Two maid servants were sleeping near her, both very
 pretty, one on either side of the doorway, which was closed with well-made
 folding doors. Athena took the form of the famous sea leader Dymas’ daughter,
 who was a bosom friend of Nausicaa and just her own age; then, coming up to the
 girl's bedside like a breath of wind, she hovered over her head and said: 

 
 "Nausicaa, what can your mother have been about,
 to have such a lazy daughter? Here are your clothes all lying in disorder, yet
 you are going to be married almost immediately, and should not only be well
 dressed yourself, but should find good clothes for those who attend you. This
 is the way to get yourself a good name, and to make your father and mother
 proud of you. Suppose, then, that we make tomorrow a washing day, and start at
 daybreak. I will come and help you so that you may have everything ready as
 soon as possible, for all the best young men throughout your own dêmos are courting you, and you are not going to
 remain a young girl much longer. Ask your father, therefore, to have a wagon
 and mules ready for us at daybreak, to take the rugs, robes, and belts; and you
 can ride, too, which will be much pleasanter for you than walking, for the
 washing-cisterns are some way from the town." 

 
 When she had said this Athena went away to
 Olympus , which they say is the
 everlasting home of the gods. Here no wind beats roughly, and neither rain nor
 snow can fall; but it abides in everlasting sunshine and in a great
 peacefulness of light, wherein the blessed gods are illumined for ever and
 ever. This was the place to which the goddess went when she had given
 instructions to the girl.

By and by morning came and woke Nausicaa, who
 began wondering about her dream; she therefore went to the other end of the
 house to tell her father and mother all about it, and found them in their own
 room. Her mother was sitting by the fireside spinning her purple yarn with her
 maids around her, and she happened to catch her father just as he was going out
 to attend a meeting of the town council, which the Phaeacian aldermen had
 convened. She stopped him and said: 

 
 "Papa dear, could you manage to let me have a
 good big wagon? I want to take all our dirty clothes to the river and wash
 them. You are the chief man here, so it is only right that you should have a
 clean shirt when you attend meetings of the council. Moreover, you have five
 sons at home, two of them married, while the other three are good-looking
 bachelors; you know they always like to have clean linen when they go to a
 dance [ khoros ], and I have been thinking about all
 this." 

 
 She did not say a word about her own wedding,
 for she did not like to, but her father knew and said, "You shall have the
 mules, my love, and whatever else you have a mind for. Be off with you, and the
 men shall get you a good strong wagon with a body to it that will hold all your
 clothes." 

 
 On this he gave his orders to the servants, who
 got the wagon out, harnessed the mules, and put them to, while the girl brought
 the clothes down from the linen room and placed them on the wagon. Her mother
 prepared her a basket of provisions with all sorts of good things, and a goat
 skin full of wine; the girl now got into the wagon, and her mother gave her
 also a golden cruse of oil, that she and her women might anoint themselves.
 Then she took the whip and reins and lashed the mules on, whereon they set off,
 and their hoofs clattered on the road. They pulled without flagging, and
 carried not only Nausicaa and her wash of clothes, but the maids also who were
 with her.

When they reached the water side they went to
 the washing-cisterns, through which there ran at all times enough pure water to
 wash any quantity of linen, no matter how dirty. Here they unharnessed the
 mules and turned them out to feed on the sweet juicy herbage that grew by the
 water side. They took the clothes out of the wagon, put them in the water, and
 vied with one another in treading them in the pits to get the dirt out. After
 they had washed them and got them quite clean, they laid them out by the sea
 side, where the waves had raised a high beach of shingle, and set about washing
 themselves and anointing themselves with olive oil. Then they got their dinner
 by the side of the stream, and waited for the sun to finish drying the clothes.
 When they had done dinner they threw off the veils that covered their heads and
 began to play at ball, while Nausicaa sang for them. As the huntress Artemis
 goes forth upon the mountains of Taygetus or Erymanthus to hunt wild boars or
 deer, and the wood-nymphs, daughters of Aegis-bearing Zeus, take their sport
 along with her (then is Leto proud at seeing her daughter stand a full head
 taller than the others, and eclipse the loveliest amid a whole bevy of
 beauties), even so did the girl outshine her handmaids. 

 
 When it was time for them to start home, and
 they were folding the clothes and putting them into the wagon, Athena began to
 consider how Odysseus should wake up and see the handsome girl who was to
 conduct him to the city of the Phaeacians. The girl, therefore, threw a ball at
 one of the maids, which missed her and fell into deep water. On this they all
 shouted, and the noise they made woke Odysseus, who sat up in his bed of leaves
 and began to wonder what it might all be. 

 
 "Alas," said he to himself, "what kind of
 people have I come amongst? Are they cruel, savage, and uncivilized [not dikaios ], or hospitable and endowed with a god-fearing
 noos ? I seem to hear the voices of young women,
 and they sound like those of the nymphs that haunt mountaintops, or springs of
 rivers and meadows of green grass. At any rate I am among a race of men and
 women. Let me try if I cannot manage to get a look at them." 

 
 As he said this he crept from under his bush,
 and broke off a bough covered with thick leaves to hide his nakedness. He
 looked like some lion of the wilderness that stalks about exulting in his
 strength and defying both wind and rain; his eyes glare as he prowls in quest
 of oxen, sheep, or deer, for he is famished, and will dare break even into a
 well-fenced homestead, trying to get at the sheep - even such did Odysseus seem
 to the young women, as he drew near to them all naked as he was, for he was in
 great want. On seeing one so unkempt and so begrimed with salt water, the
 others scampered off along the spits that jutted out into the sea, but the
 daughter of Alkinoos stood firm, for Athena put courage into her heart and took
 away all fear from her. She stood right in front of Odysseus, and he doubted
 whether he should go up to her, throw himself at her feet, and embrace her
 knees as a suppliant, or stay where he was and entreat her to give him some
 clothes and show him the way to the town. In the end he deemed it best to
 entreat her from a distance in case the girl should take offense at his coming
 near enough to clasp her knees, so he addressed her in honeyed and persuasive
 language.

"O queen," he said, "I implore your aid - but
 tell me, are you a goddess or are you a mortal woman? If you are a goddess and
 dwell in heaven, I can only conjecture that you are Zeus’ daughter Artemis, for
 your face and figure resemble none but hers; if on the other hand you are a
 mortal and live on earth, thrice happy are your father and mother - thrice
 happy, too, are your brothers and sisters; how proud and delighted they must
 feel when they see so fair a scion as yourself going out to a dance [ khoros ]; most happy, however, of all will he be whose
 wedding gifts have been the richest, and who takes you to his own home. I never
 yet saw any one so beautiful, neither man nor woman, and am lost in admiration
 as I behold you. I can only compare you to a young palm tree which I saw when I
 was at Delos growing near the altar
 of Apollo - for I was there, too, with many people after me, when I was on that
 journey which has been the source of all my troubles. Never yet did such a
 young plant shoot out of the ground as that was, and I admired and wondered at
 it exactly as I now admire and wonder at yourself. I dare not clasp your knees,
 but I am in great distress [ penthos ]; yesterday
 made the twentieth day that I had been tossing about upon the sea. The winds
 and waves have taken me all the way from the Ogygian island, and now a daimôn has flung me upon this coast that I may endure
 still further suffering; for I do not think that I have yet come to the end of
 it, but rather that the gods have still much evil in store for me. 

 
 "And now, O queen, have pity upon me, for you
 are the first person I have met, and I know no one else in this country. Show
 me the way to your town, and let me have anything that you may have brought
 here to wrap your clothes in. May heaven grant you in all things your heart's
 desire - husband, house, and a happy, peaceful home; for there is nothing
 better in this world than that man and wife should be of one mind in a house.
 It discomfits their enemies, makes the hearts of their friends glad, and they
 themselves know more about it than any one." 

 
 To this Nausicaa answered, "Stranger, you
 appear to be a sensible, well-disposed person. There is no accounting for luck;
 Zeus gives prosperity [ olbos ] to rich and poor just
 as he chooses, so you must take what he has seen fit to send you, and make the
 best of it. Now, however, that you have come to this our country, you shall not
 want for clothes nor for anything else that a foreigner in distress may
 reasonably look for. I will show you the way to the town, and will tell you the
 name of our people: we are called Phaeacians, and I am daughter to Alkinoos, in
 whom the whole strength and power [ biê ] of the
 state is vested." 

 
 Then she called her maids and said, "Stay where
 you are, you girls. Can you not see a man without running away from him? Do you
 take him for a robber or a murderer? Neither he nor any one else can come here
 to do us Phaeacians any harm, for we are dear to the gods, and live apart on a
 land's end that juts into the sounding sea, and have nothing to do with any
 other people. This is only some poor man who has lost his way, and we must be
 kind to him, for strangers and foreigners in distress are under Zeus’
 protection, and will take what they can get and be thankful; so, girls, give
 the poor man something to eat and drink, and wash him in the stream at some
 place that is sheltered from the wind."

On this the maids left off running away and
 began calling one another back. They made Odysseus sit down in the shelter as
 Nausicaa had told them, and brought him a shirt and cloak. They also brought
 him the little golden cruse of oil, and told him to go wash in the stream. But
 Odysseus said, "Young women, please to stand a little on one side that I may
 wash the brine from my shoulders and anoint myself with oil, for it is long
 enough since my skin has had a drop of oil upon it. I cannot wash as long as
 you all keep standing there. I am ashamed to strip before a number of
 good-looking young women." 

 
 Then they stood on one side and went to tell
 the girl, while Odysseus washed himself in the stream and scrubbed the brine
 from his back and from his broad shoulders. When he had thoroughly washed
 himself, and had got the brine out of his hair, he anointed himself with oil,
 and put on the clothes which the girl had given him; Athena then made him look
 taller and stronger than before, she also made the hair grow thick on the top
 of his head, and flow down in curls like hyacinth blossoms; she poured down
 gracefulness [ kharis ] over his head and shoulders
 as a skillful workman who has studied art of all kinds under Hephaistos and
 Athena enriches a piece of silver plate by gilding it - and his work is full of
 beauty. Then he went and sat down a little way off upon the beach, looking
 quite young and handsome [ kharis ], and the girl
 gazed on him with admiration; then she said to her maids: 

 
 "Hush, my dears, for I want to say something. I
 believe the gods who live in heaven have sent this man to the Phaeacians. When
 I first saw him I thought him plain, but now his appearance is like that of the
 gods who dwell in heaven. I should like my future husband to be just such
 another as he is, if he would only stay here and not want to go away. However,
 give him something to eat and drink." 

 
 They did as they were told, and set food before
 Odysseus, who ate and drank ravenously, for it was long since he had had food
 of any kind. Meanwhile, Nausicaa bethought her of another matter. She got the
 linen folded and placed in the wagon, she then yoked the mules, and, as she
 took her seat, she called Odysseus:

"Stranger," said she, "rise and let us be going
 back to the town; I will introduce you at the house of my excellent father,
 where I can tell you that you will meet all the best people among the
 Phaeacians. But be sure and do as I bid you, for you seem to be a sensible
 person. As long as we are going past the fields - and farm lands, follow
 briskly behind the wagon along with the maids and I will lead the way myself.
 Presently, however, we shall come to the town, where you will find a high wall
 running all round it, and a good harbor on either side with a narrow entrance
 into the city, and the ships will be drawn up by the road side, for every one
 has a place where his own ship can lie. You will see the market place with a
 temple of Poseidon in the middle of it, and paved with large stones bedded in
 the earth. Here people deal in ship's gear of all kinds, such as cables and
 sails, and here, too, are the places where oars are made, for the Phaeacians
 are not a nation of archers; they know nothing about bows and arrows, but are a
 sea-faring folk, and pride themselves on their masts, oars, and ships, with
 which they travel far over the sea. 

 
 "I am afraid of the gossip and scandal that may
 be set on foot against me later on; for the people in the dêmos here are very ill-natured, and some lowly person, if he met
 us, might say, ‘Who is this fine-looking stranger that is going about with
 Nausicaa? Where did she find him? I suppose she is going to marry him. Perhaps
 he is a vagabond sailor whom she has taken from some foreign vessel, for we
 have no neighbors; or some god has at last come down from heaven in answer to
 her prayers, and she is going to live with him all the rest of her life. It
 would be a better thing if she would take herself away and find a husband
 somewhere else, for she will not look at one of the many excellent young
 Phaeacians in the dêmos who woo her.’ This is the
 kind of disparaging remark that would be made about me, and I could not
 complain, for I should myself be scandalized at seeing any other girl do the
 like, and go about with men in spite of everybody, while her father and mother
 were still alive, and without having been married in the face of all the
 world. 

 
 "If, therefore, you want my father to give you
 an escort and to help you home [ nostos ], do as I
 bid you; you will see a beautiful grove of poplars by the road side dedicated
 to Athena; it has a well in it and a meadow all round it. Here my father has a
 field of fertile garden ground, about as far from the town as a man's voice
 will carry. Sit down there and wait for a while till the rest of us can get
 into the town and reach my father's house. Then, when you think we must have
 done this, come into the town and ask the way to the house of my father
 Alkinoos. You will have no difficulty in finding it; any child will point it
 out to you, for no one else in the whole town has anything like such a fine
 house as he has. When you have got past the gates and through the outer court,
 go right across the inner court till you come to my mother. You will find her
 sitting by the fire and spinning her purple wool by firelight. It is a fine
 sight to see her as she leans back against one of the bearing-posts with her
 maids all ranged behind her. Close to her seat stands that of my father, on
 which he sits and topes like an immortal god. Never mind him, but go up to my
 mother, and lay your hands upon her knees if you would get home quickly. If you
 can win her over, you may hope to see your own country again, no matter how
 distant it may be." 

 
 So saying she lashed the mules with her whip
 and they left the river. The mules drew well and their hoofs went up and down
 upon the road. She was careful not to go too fast for Odysseus and the maids
 who were following on foot along with the wagon, so she plied her whip with
 judgment [ noos ]. As the sun was going down they
 came to the sacred grove of Athena, and there Odysseus sat down and prayed to
 the mighty daughter of Zeus.

"Hear me," he cried, "daughter of Aegis-bearing
 Zeus, unweariable, hear me now, for you gave no heed to my prayers when
 Poseidon was wrecking me. Now, therefore, have pity upon me and grant that I
 may find friends and be hospitably received by the Phaeacians." 

 
 Thus did he pray, and Athena heard his prayer,
 but she would not show herself to him openly, for she was afraid of her uncle
 Poseidon, who was still furious in his endeavors to prevent Odysseus from
 getting home.

Thus, then, did Odysseus wait and pray; but the
 girl drove on to the town. When she reached her father's house she drew up at
 the gateway, and her brothers - comely as the gods - gathered round her, took
 the mules out of the wagon, and carried the clothes into the house, while she
 went to her own room, where an old servant, Eurymedousa of Apeira, lit the fire
 for her. This old woman had been brought by sea from Apeira, and had been
 chosen as a prize for Alkinoos because he was king over the Phaeacians, and the
 people in the dêmos obeyed him as though he were a
 god. She had been nurse to Nausicaa, and had now lit the fire for her, and
 brought her supper for her into her own room. 

 
 Presently Odysseus got up to go towards the
 town; and Athena shed a thick mist all round him to hide him in case any of the
 proud Phaeacians who met him should be rude to him, or ask him who he was.
 Then, as he was just entering the town, she came towards him in the likeness of
 a little girl carrying a pitcher. She stood right in front of him, and Odysseus
 said: 

 
 "My dear, will you be so kind as to show me the
 house of king Alkinoos? I am an unfortunate foreigner in distress, and do not
 know one in your town and country." 

 
 Then Athena said, "Yes, father stranger, I will
 show you the house you want, for Alkinoos lives quite close to my own father. I
 will go before you and show the way, but say not a word as you go, and do not
 look at any man, nor ask him questions; for the people here cannot abide
 strangers, and do not like men who come from some other place. They are a
 sea-faring folk, and sail the seas by the grace of Poseidon in ships that glide
 along like thought, or as a bird in the air."

On this she led the way, and Odysseus followed
 in her steps; but not one of the Phaeacians could see him as he passed through
 the city in the midst of them; for the great goddess Athena in her good will
 towards him had hidden him in a thick cloud of darkness. He admired their
 harbors, ships, places of assembly, and the lofty walls of the city, which,
 with the palisade on top of them, were very striking, and when they reached the
 king's house Athena said: 

 
 "This is the house, father stranger, which you
 would have me show you. You will find a number of great people sitting at
 table, but do not be afraid; go straight in, for the bolder a man is the more
 likely he is to carry his point, even though he is a stranger. First find the
 queen. Her name is Arete, and she comes of the same family as her husband
 Alkinoos. They both descend originally from Poseidon, who was father to
 Nausithoos by Periboia, a woman of great beauty. Periboia was the youngest
 daughter of Eurymedon, who at one time reigned over the giants, but he ruined
 his ill-fated people and lost his own life to boot. 

 
 "Poseidon, however, lay with his daughter, and
 she had a son by him, the great Nausithoos, who reigned over the Phaeacians.
 Nausithoos had two sons Rhexenor and Alkinoos; Apollo killed the first of them
 while he was still a bridegroom and without male issue; but he left a daughter
 Arete, whom Alkinoos married, and honors as no other woman is honored of all
 those that keep house along with their husbands. 

 
 "Thus she both was, and still is, respected
 beyond measure by her children, by Alkinoos himself, and by the whole people,
 who look upon her as a goddess, and greet her whenever she goes about the city,
 for she is a thoroughly good woman both in head [ noos ] and heart, and when any women are friends of hers, she will
 help their husbands also to settle their disputes. If you can gain her good
 will, you may have every hope of seeing your friends again, and getting safely
 back to your home and country."

Then Athena left Scheria and went away over the sea. She went to Marathon and to
 the spacious streets of Athens ,
 where she entered the abode of Erechtheus; but Odysseus went on to the house of
 Alkinoos, and he pondered much as he paused a while before reaching the
 threshold of bronze, for the splendor of the palace was like that of the sun or
 moon. The walls on either side were of bronze from end to end, and the cornice
 was of blue enamel. The doors were gold, and hung on pillars of silver that
 rose from a floor of bronze, while the lintel was silver and the hook of the
 door was of gold. 

 
 On either side there stood gold and silver
 mastiffs which Hephaistos, with his consummate skill, had fashioned expressly
 to keep watch over the palace of king Alkinoos; so they were immortal and could
 never grow old. Seats were ranged all along the wall, here and there from one
 end to the other, with coverings of fine woven work which the women of the
 house had made. Here the chief persons of the Phaeacians used to sit and eat
 and drink, for there was abundance at all seasons; and there were golden
 figures of young men with lighted torches in their hands, raised on pedestals,
 to give light by night to those who were at table. There are fifty maid
 servants in the house, some of whom are always grinding rich yellow grain at
 the mill, while others work at the loom, or sit and spin, and their shuttles
 go, backwards and forwards like the fluttering of aspen leaves, while the linen
 is so closely woven that it will turn oil. As the Phaeacians are the best
 sailors in the world, so their women excel all others in weaving, for Athena
 has taught them all manner of useful arts, and they are very intelligent. 

 
 Outside the gate of the outer court there is a
 large garden of about four acres with a wall all round it. It is full of
 beautiful trees - pears, pomegranates, and the most delicious apples. There are
 luscious figs also, and olives in full growth. The fruits never rot nor fail
 all the year round, neither winter nor summer, for the air is so soft that a
 new crop ripens before the old has dropped. Pear grows on pear, apple on apple,
 and fig on fig, and so also with the grapes, for there is an excellent
 vineyard: on the level ground of a part of this, the grapes are being made into
 raisins; in another part they are being gathered; some are being trodden in the
 wine tubs, others further on have shed their blossom and are beginning to show
 fruit, others again are just changing color. In the furthest part of the ground
 there are beautifully arranged beds of flowers that are in bloom all the year
 round. Two streams go through it, the one turned in ducts throughout the whole
 garden, while the other is carried under the ground of the outer court to the
 house itself, and the town's people draw water from it. Such, then, were the
 splendors with which the gods had endowed the house of king Alkinoos. 

 
 So here Odysseus stood for a while and looked
 about him, but when he had looked long enough he crossed the threshold and went
 within the precincts of the house. There he found all the chief people among
 the Phaeacians making their drink-offerings to Hermes, which they always did
 the last thing before going away for the night. He went straight through the
 court, still hidden by the cloak of darkness in which Athena had enveloped him,
 till he reached Arete and King Alkinoos; then he laid his hands upon the knees
 of the queen, and at that moment the miraculous darkness fell away from him and
 he became visible. Every one was speechless with surprise at seeing a man
 there, but Odysseus began at once with his petition.

"Queen Arete," he exclaimed, "daughter of great
 Rhexenor, in my distress I humbly pray you, as also your husband and these your
 guests (whom may heaven prosper with long life and happiness [ olbos ], and may they leave their possessions to their
 children, and all the honors conferred upon them by the state [ dêmos ]) to help me home to my own country as soon as
 possible; for I have been long in trouble and away from my friends." 

 
 Then he sat down on the hearth among the ashes
 and they all held their peace, till presently the old hero Echeneus, who was an
 excellent speaker and an elder among the Phaeacians, plainly and in all honesty
 addressed them thus: 

 
 "Alkinoos," said he, "it is not creditable to
 you that a stranger should be seen sitting among the ashes of your hearth;
 every one is waiting to hear what you are about to say; tell him, then, to rise
 and take a seat on a stool inlaid with silver, and bid your servants mix some
 wine and water that we may make a drink-offering to Zeus the lord of thunder,
 who takes all well-disposed suppliants under his protection; and let the
 housekeeper give him some supper, of whatever there may be in the house." 

 
 When Alkinoos heard this he took Odysseus by
 the hand, raised him from the hearth, and bade him take the seat of Laodamas,
 who had been sitting beside him, and was his favorite son. A maid servant then
 brought him water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin
 for him to wash his hands, and she drew a clean table beside him; an upper
 servant brought him bread and offered him many good things of what there was in
 the house, and Odysseus ate and drank. Then Alkinoos said to one of the
 servants, "Pontonoos, mix a cup of wine and hand it round that we may make
 drink-offerings to Zeus the lord of thunder, who is the protector of all
 well-disposed suppliants."

Pontonoos then mixed wine and water, and handed
 it round after giving every man his drink-offering. When they had made their
 offerings, and had drunk each as much as he was minded, Alkinoos said: 

 
 "Aldermen and town councilors of the
 Phaeacians, hear my words. You have had your supper, so now go home to bed.
 Tomorrow morning I shall invite a still larger number of aldermen, and will
 give a sacrificial banquet in honor of our guest; we can then discuss the
 question of his escort, and consider how we may at once send him back rejoicing
 to his own country without toil [ ponos ] or
 inconvenience to himself, no matter how distant it may be. We must see that he
 comes to no harm while on his homeward journey, but when he is once at home he
 will have to take the luck he was born with for better or worse like other
 people. It is possible, however, that the stranger is one of the immortals who
 has come down from heaven to visit us; but in this case the gods are departing
 from their usual practice, for hitherto they have made themselves perfectly
 clear to us when we have been offering them hecatombs. They come and sit at our
 feasts just like one of our selves, and if any solitary wayfarer happens to
 stumble upon some one or other of them, they affect no concealment, for we are
 as near of kin to the gods as the Cyclopes and the savage giants are." 

 
 Then Odysseus said: "Pray, Alkinoos, do not
 take any such notion into your head. I have nothing of the immortal about me,
 neither in body nor mind, and most resemble those among you who are the most
 afflicted. Indeed, were I to tell you all that heaven has seen fit to lay upon
 me, you would say that I was still worse off than they are. Nevertheless, let
 me sup in spite of sorrow, for an empty stomach is a very importunate thing,
 and thrusts itself on a man's notice no matter how dire is his distress [ penthos ]. I am in great distress [ penthos ], yet it insists that I shall eat and drink, bids me lay
 aside all memory of my sorrows and dwell only on the due replenishing of
 itself. As for yourselves, do as you propose, and at break of day set about
 helping me to get home. I shall be content to die if I may first once more
 behold my property, my bondsmen, and all the greatness of my house." 

 
 Thus did he speak. Every one approved his
 saying, and agreed that he should have his escort inasmuch as he had spoken
 reasonably. Then when they had made their drink-offerings, and had drunk each
 as much as he was minded they went home to bed every man in his own abode,
 leaving Odysseus in the room with Arete and Alkinoos while the servants were
 taking the things away after supper. Arete was the first to speak, for she
 recognized the shirt, cloak, and good clothes that Odysseus was wearing, as the
 work of herself and of her maids; so she said, "Stranger, before we go any
 further, there is a question I should like to ask you. Who, and whence are you,
 and who gave you those clothes? Did you not say you had come here from beyond
 the sea?"

And Odysseus answered, "It would be a long
 story, Lady, were I to relate in full the tale of my misfortunes, for the hand
 of heaven has been laid heavy upon me; but as regards your question, there is
 an island far away in the sea which is called ‘the Ogygian.’ Here dwells the
 cunning and powerful goddess Calypso, daughter of Atlas. She lives by herself
 far from all neighbors human or divine. A daimôn ,
 however, led me to her hearth all desolate and alone, for Zeus struck my ship
 with his thunderbolts, and broke it up in mid-ocean. My brave comrades were
 drowned every man of them, but I stuck to the keel and was carried hither and
 thither for the space of nine days, till at last during the darkness of the
 tenth night the gods brought me to the Ogygian island where the great goddess
 Calypso lives. She took me in and treated me with the utmost kindness; indeed
 she wanted to make me immortal that I might never grow old, but she could not
 persuade me to let her do so. 

 
 "I stayed with Calypso seven years straight on
 end, and watered the good clothes she gave me with my tears during the whole
 time; but at last when the eighth year came round she bade me depart of her own
 free will, either because Zeus had told her she must, or because she had
 changed her mind [ noos ]. She sent me from her
 island on a raft, which she provisioned with abundance of bread and wine.
 Moreover she gave me good stout clothing, and sent me a wind that blew both
 warm and fair. Seventeen days did I sail over the sea, and on the eighteenth I
 caught sight of the first outlines of the mountains upon your coast - and glad
 indeed was I to set eyes upon them. Nevertheless there was still much trouble
 in store for me, for at this point Poseidon would let me go no further, and
 raised a great storm against me; the sea was so terribly high that I could no
 longer keep to my raft, which went to pieces under the fury of the gale, and I
 had to swim for it, till wind and current brought me to your shores. 

 
 "There I tried to land, but could not, for it
 was a bad place and the waves dashed me against the rocks, so I again took to
 the sea and swam on till I came to a river that seemed the most likely landing
 place, for there were no rocks and it was sheltered from the wind. Here, then,
 I got out of the water and gathered my senses together again. Night was coming
 on, so I left the river, and went into a thicket, where I covered myself all
 over with leaves, and presently heaven sent me off into a very deep sleep. Sick
 and sorry as I was I slept among the leaves all night, and through the next day
 till afternoon, when I woke as the sun was westering, and saw your daughter's
 maid servants playing upon the beach, and your daughter among them looking like
 a goddess. I besought her aid, and she proved to be of an excellent
 disposition, much more so than could be expected from so young a person - for
 young people are apt to be thoughtless. She gave me plenty of bread and wine,
 and when she had had me washed in the river she also gave me the clothes in
 which you see me. Now, therefore, though it has pained me to do so, I have told
 you the whole truth [ alêtheia ]." 

 
 Then Alkinoos said, "Stranger, it was very
 wrong of my daughter not to bring you on at once to my house along with the
 maids, seeing that she was the first person whose aid you asked."

"Pray do not scold her," replied Odysseus; "she
 is not to blame. She did tell me to follow along with the maids, but I was
 ashamed and afraid, for I thought you might perhaps be displeased if you saw
 me. Every human being is sometimes a little suspicious and irritable." 

 
 "Stranger," replied Alkinoos, "I am not the
 kind of man to get angry about nothing; it is always better to be reasonable;
 but by Father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, now that I see what kind of person you
 are, and how much you think as I do, I wish you would stay here, marry my
 daughter, and become my son-in-law. If you will stay I will give you a house
 and an estate, but no one (heaven forbid) shall keep you here against your own
 wish, and that you may be sure of this I will attend tomorrow to the matter of
 your escort. You can sleep during the whole voyage if you like, and the men
 shall sail you over smooth waters either to your own home, or wherever you
 please, even though it be a long way further off than Euboea , which those of my people who saw it
 when they took yellow-haired Rhadamanthus to see Tityus the son of Gaia, tell
 me is the furthest of any place - and yet they did the whole voyage in a single
 day without distressing themselves, and came back again afterwards. You will
 thus see how much my ships excel all others, and what magnificent oarsmen my
 sailors are." 

 
 Then was Odysseus glad and prayed aloud saying,
 "Father Zeus, grant that Alkinoos may do all as he has said, for so he will win
 an imperishable kleos among humankind, and at the
 same time I shall return to my country." 

 
 Thus did they converse. Then Arete told her
 maids to set a bed in the room that was in the gatehouse, and make it with good
 red rugs, and to spread coverlets on the top of them with woolen cloaks for
 Odysseus to wear. The maids thereon went out with torches in their hands, and
 when they had made the bed they came up to Odysseus and said, "Rise, sir
 stranger, and come with us for your bed is ready," and glad indeed was he to go
 to his rest.

So Odysseus slept in a bed placed in a room
 over the echoing gateway; but Alkinoos lay in the inner part of the house, with
 the queen his wife by his side.

Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered
 Dawn, appeared, Alkinoos and Odysseus both rose, and Alkinoos led the way to
 the Phaeacian place of assembly, which was near the ships. When they got there
 they sat down side by side on a seat of polished stone, while Athena took the
 form of one of Alkinoos’ servants, and went round the town in order to contrive
 nostos for great-hearted Odysseus. She went up
 to the citizens, man by man, and said, "Aldermen and town councilors of the
 Phaeacians, come to the assembly all of you and listen to the stranger who has
 just come off a long voyage to the house of King Alkinoos; he looks like an
 immortal god." 

 
 With these words she made them all want to come,
 and they flocked to the assembly till seats and standing room were alike
 crowded. Every one was struck with the appearance of Odysseus, for Athena had
 beautified [ kharis ] him about the head and
 shoulders, making him look taller and stouter than he really was, that he might
 impress the Phaeacians favorably as being a very remarkable man, and might come
 off well in the many trials [ athlos ] of skill to
 which they would challenge him. Then, when they were got together, Alkinoos
 spoke: 

 
 "Hear me," said he, "aldermen and town
 councilors of the Phaeacians, that I may speak even as I am minded. This
 stranger, whoever he may be, has found his way to my house from somewhere or
 other either East or West. He wants an escort and wishes to have the matter
 settled. Let us then get one ready for him, as we have done for others before
 him; indeed, no one who ever yet came to my house has been able to complain of
 me for not speeding on his way soon enough. Let us draw a ship into the sea -
 one that has never yet made a voyage - and man her with two and fifty of our
 choicest [ krînô ] young sailors in the dêmos. Then when you have made fast your oars each by
 his own seat, leave the ship and come to my house to prepare a feast. I will
 provide you with everything. I am giving these instructions to the young men
 who will form the crew, for as regards you aldermen and town councilors, you
 will join me in entertaining our guest in the cloisters. I can take no excuses,
 and we will have Demodokos to sing to us; for there is no bard like him
 whatever he may choose to sing about." 

 
 Alkinoos then led the way, and the others
 followed after, while a servant went to fetch Demodokos. The fifty-two picked
 [ krînô ] oarsmen went to the sea shore as they
 had been told, and when they got there they drew the ship into the water, got
 her mast and sails inside her, bound the oars to the thole-pins with twisted
 thongs of leather, all in due course, and spread the white sails aloft. They
 moored the vessel a little way out from land, and then came on shore and went
 to the house of King Alkinoos. The outhouses, yards, and all the precincts were
 filled with crowds of men in great multitudes both old and young; and Alkinoos
 killed them a dozen sheep, eight full grown pigs, and two oxen. These they
 skinned and dressed so as to provide a magnificent banquet.

A servant presently led in the famous bard
 Demodokos, whom the muse had dearly loved, but to whom she had given both good
 and evil, for though she had endowed him with a divine gift of song, she had
 robbed him of his eyesight. Pontonoos set a seat for him among the guests,
 leaning it up against a bearing-post. He hung the lyre for him on a peg over
 his head, and showed him where he was to feel for it with his hands. He also
 set a fair table with a basket of victuals by his side, and a cup of wine from
 which he might drink whenever he was so disposed. 

 
 The company then laid their hands upon the good
 things that were before them, but as soon as they had had enough to eat and
 drink, the muse inspired Demodokos to sing the feats [ kleos ] of heroes, and most especially a matter whose kleos at that time reached wide heaven, to wit, the
 quarrel [ neikos ] between Odysseus and Achilles, and
 the fierce words that they heaped on one another as they sat together at a
 banquet. But Agamemnon was glad in his noos when he
 heard his chieftains quarreling with one another, for Apollo had foretold him
 this at Pytho when he crossed the
 stone floor to consult the oracle. Here the beginning of the evil started
 rolling down, by the will of Zeus, toward both Danaans and Trojans. 

 
 Thus sang the bard, but Odysseus drew his purple
 mantle over his head and covered his face, for he was ashamed to let the
 Phaeacians see that he was weeping. When the bard left off singing he wiped the
 tears from his eyes, uncovered his face, and, taking his cup, made a
 drink-offering to the gods; but when the Phaeacians pressed Demodokos to sing
 further, for they delighted in his lays, then Odysseus again drew his mantle
 over his head and wept bitterly. No one noticed his distress except Alkinoos,
 who was sitting near him, and heard the heavy sighs that he was heaving. So he
 at once said, "Aldermen and town councilors of the Phaeacians, we have had
 enough now, both of the feast, and of the minstrelsy that is its due
 accompaniment; let us proceed therefore to the athletic sports [ athlos ], so that our guest on his return home may be
 able to tell his friends how much we surpass all other nations as boxers,
 wrestlers, jumpers, and runners." 

 
 With these words he led the way, and the others
 followed after. A servant hung Demodokos’ lyre on its peg for him, led him out
 of the room, and set him on the same way as that along which all the chief men
 of the Phaeacians were going to see the sports; a crowd of several thousand
 people followed them, and there were many excellent competitors for all the
 prizes. Akroneos, Okyalos, Elatreus, Nauteus, Prymneus, Anchialos, Eretmeus,
 Ponteus, Proreus, Thoon, Anabesineos, and Amphialos son of Polyneos son of
 Tekton. There was also Euryalos son of Naubolos, who was like Ares himself, and
 was the best looking man among the Phaeacians except Laodamas. Three sons of
 Alkinoos, Laodamas, Halios, and Clytoneus, competed also.

The foot races came first. The course was set
 out for them from the starting post, and they raised a dust upon the plain as
 they all flew forward at the same moment. Clytoneus came in first by a long
 way; he left every one else behind him by the length of the furrow that a
 couple of mules can plough in a fallow field. They then turned to the painful
 art of wrestling, and here Euryalos proved to be the best man. Amphialos
 excelled all the others in jumping, while at throwing the disc there was no one
 who could approach Elatreus. Alkinoos’ son Laodamas was the best boxer, and he
 it was who presently said, when they had all been diverted with the games
 [ athlos ], "Let us ask the stranger whether he
 excels in any of these sports [ athlos ]; he seems
 very powerfully built; his thighs, calves, hands, and neck are of prodigious
 strength, nor is he at all old, but he has suffered much lately, and there is
 nothing like the sea for making havoc with a man, no matter how strong he
 is." 

 
 "You are quite right, Laodamas," replied
 Euryalos, "go up to your guest and speak to him about it yourself." 

 
 When Laodamas heard this he made his way into
 the middle of the crowd and said to Odysseus, "I hope, sir, that you will enter
 yourself in some one or other of our competitions [ athloi ] if you are skilled in any of them - for you seem to know of
 athloi . There is no greater kleos for a man all his life long as the showing
 himself good with his hands and feet. Have a try therefore at something, and
 banish all sorrow from your mind. Your return home will not be long delayed,
 for the ship is already drawn into the water, and the crew is found." 

 
 Odysseus answered, "Laodamas, why do you taunt
 me in this way? My mind is set rather on cares than contests athloi ; I have been through infinite trouble, and am
 come among you now as a suppliant, praying your king and dêmos to further me on my return home [ nostos ]."

Then Euryalos reviled him outright and said, "I
 gather, then, that you are unskilled in any of the many sports athloi that men generally delight in. I suppose you
 are one of those grasping traders that go about in ships as captains or
 merchants, and who think of nothing but of their outward freights and homeward
 cargoes. There does not seem to be much of the athlete [ athlêtês ] about you." 

 
 "For shame, sir," answered Odysseus, fiercely,
 "you are an insolent man - so true is it that the gods do not grace all men
 alike in speech, person, and understanding. One man may be of weak presence,
 but heaven has adorned this with such a good conversation that he charms every
 one who sees him; his honeyed moderation [ aidôs ]
 carries his hearers with him so that he is leader in all assemblies of his
 fellows, and wherever he goes he is looked up to. Another may be as handsome as
 a god, but his good looks are not crowned with verbal grace [ kharis ]. This is your case. No god could make a finer
 looking man than you are, but you are empty with respect to noos . Your ill-judged remarks [contrary to kosmos ] have made me exceedingly angry, for I excel in
 a great many athletic exercises [ athlos ]; indeed,
 so long as I had youth and strength, I was among the first athletes of the age.
 Now, however, I am worn out by labor and sorrow, for I have gone through much
 both on the field of battle and by the waves of the weary sea; still, in spite
 of all this I will compete [ athlos ], for your
 taunts have stung me to the quick." 

 
 So he hurried up without even taking his cloak
 off, and seized a disc, larger, more massive and much heavier than those used
 by the Phaeacians when disc-throwing among themselves. Then, swinging it back,
 he threw it from his brawny hand, and it made a humming sound in the air as he
 did so. The Phaeacians quailed beneath the rushing of its flight as it sped
 gracefully from his hand, and flew beyond any mark [ sêma ] that had been made yet. Athena, in the form of a man, came and
 marked the place where it had fallen. "A blind man, sir," said she, "could
 easily tell your mark [ sêma ] by groping for it - it
 is so far ahead of any other. You may make your mind easy about this contest
 [ athlos ], for no Phaeacian can come near to such
 a throw as yours." 

 
 Odysseus was glad when he found he had a friend
 among the lookers-on, so he began to speak more pleasantly. "Young men," said
 he, "come up to that throw if you can, and I will throw another disc as heavy
 or even heavier. If anyone wants to have a bout with me let him come on, for I
 am exceedingly angry; I will box, wrestle, or run, I do not care what it is,
 with any man of you all except Laodamas, but not with him because I am his
 guest, and one cannot compete with one's own personal friend. At least I do not
 think it a prudent or a sensible thing for a guest to challenge his host's
 family at any game [ athlos ], especially when he is
 in a foreign dêmos . He will cut the ground from
 under his own feet if he does; but I make no exception as regards any one else,
 for I want to have the matter out and know which is the best man. I am a good
 hand at every kind of athletic sport [ athlos ] known
 among humankind. I am an excellent archer. In battle I am always the first to
 bring a man down with my arrow, no matter how many more are taking aim at him
 alongside of me. Philoctetes was the only man who could shoot better than I
 could when we Achaeans were before the dêmos of the
 Trojans. I far excel every one else in the whole world, of those who still eat
 bread upon the face of the earth, but I should not like to shoot against the
 mighty dead, such as Herakles, or Eurytos the Cechalian- men who could shoot
 against the gods themselves. This in fact was how Eurytos came prematurely by
 his end, for Apollo was angry with him and killed him because he challenged him
 as an archer. I can throw a dart farther than any one else can shoot an arrow.
 Running is the only point in respect of which I am afraid some of the
 Phaeacians might beat me, for I have been brought down very low at sea; my
 provisions ran short, and therefore I am still weak."

They all held their peace except King Alkinoos,
 who began, "Sir, we have had much pleasure in hearing all that you have told
 us, from which I understand that you are willing to show your prowess [ aretê ], as having been displeased with some insolent
 remarks that have been made to you by one of our athletes, and which could
 never have been uttered by any one who knows how to talk with propriety. I hope
 you will apprehend my meaning, and will explain to any one of your chief men
 who may be dining with yourself and your family when you get home, that we have
 an hereditary aptitude [ aretê ] for accomplishments
 of all kinds. We are not particularly remarkable for our boxing, nor yet as
 wrestlers, but we are singularly fleet of foot and are excellent sailors. We
 are extremely fond of good dinners, music, and dancing [ khoros ]; we also like frequent changes of linen, warm baths, and
 good beds; so now, please, some of you who are the best dancers set about
 dancing, that our guest on his return home may be able to tell his friends how
 much we surpass all other nations as sailors, runners, dancers, minstrels.
 Demodokos has left his lyre at my house, so run some one or other of you and
 fetch it for him." 

 
 On this a servant hurried off to bring the lyre
 from the king's house, and the nine men who had been chosen as stewards stood
 forward. It was their business to manage everything connected with the sports,
 so they made the ground smooth and marked a wide space for the dancers [ khoros ]. Presently the servant came back with
 Demodokos’ lyre, and he took his place in the midst of them, whereon the best
 young dancers [ khoros ] in the town began to foot
 and trip it so nimbly that Odysseus was delighted with the merry twinkling of
 their feet. 

 
 Meanwhile the bard began to sing the loves of
 Ares and Aphrodite, and how they first began their intrigue in the house of
 Hephaistos. Ares made Aphrodite many presents, and defiled lord Hephaistos’
 marriage bed, so the sun, who saw what they were about, told Hephaistos.
 Hephaistos was very angry when he heard such dreadful news, so he went to his
 smithy brooding mischief, got his great anvil into its place, and began to
 forge some chains which none could either unloose or break, so that they might
 stay there in that place. When he had finished his snare he went into his
 bedroom and festooned the bed-posts all over with chains like cobwebs; he also
 let many hang down from the great beam of the ceiling. Not even a god could see
 them, so fine and subtle were they. As soon as he had spread the chains all
 over the bed, he made as though he were setting out for the fair state of
 Lemnos , which of all places in the
 world was the one he was most fond of. But Ares kept no blind look out, and as
 soon as he saw him start, hurried off to his house, burning with love for
 Aphrodite. 

 
 Now Aphrodite was just come in from a visit to
 her father Zeus, and was about sitting down when Ares came inside the house,
 and said as he took her hand in his own, "Let us go to the couch of Hephaistos:
 he is not at home, but is gone off to Lemnos among the Sintians, whose speech is barbarous."

She was not unwilling, so they went to the
 couch to take their rest, whereon they were caught in the toils which cunning
 Hephaistos had spread for them, and could neither get up nor stir hand or foot,
 but found too late that they were in a trap. Then Hephaistos came up to them,
 for he had turned back before reaching Lemnos , when his scout the sun told him what was going on. He
 was in a furious passion, and stood in the vestibule making a dreadful noise as
 he shouted to all the gods. 

 
 "Father Zeus," he cried, "and all you other
 blessed gods who live for ever, come here and see the ridiculous and
 disgraceful sight that I will show you. Zeus’ daughter Aphrodite is always
 dishonoring me because I am lame. She is in love with Ares, who is handsome and
 clean built, whereas I am a cripple - but my parents are responsible [ aitioi ] for that, not I; they ought never to have
 begotten me. Come and see the pair together asleep on my bed. It makes me
 furious to look at them. They are very fond of one another, but I do not think
 they will lie there longer than they can help, nor do I think that they will
 sleep much; there, however, they shall stay till her father has repaid me the
 sum I gave him for his baggage of a daughter, who is fair but not honest." 

 
 On this the gods gathered to the house of
 Hephaistos. Earth-encircling Poseidon came, and Hermes the bringer of luck, and
 lord Apollo, but the goddesses stayed at home all of them for shame. Then the
 givers of all good things stood in the doorway, and the blessed gods roared
 with inextinguishable laughter, as they saw how cunning Hephaistos had been,
 whereon one would turn towards his neighbor saying: 

 
 "Ill deeds do not bring aretê , and the weak confound the strong. See how limping Hephaistos,
 lame as he is, has caught Ares who is the fleetest god in heaven; and now Ares
 will be cast in heavy damages."

Thus did they converse, but lord Apollo said to
 Hermes, "Messenger Hermes, giver of good things, you would not care how strong
 the chains were, would you, if you could sleep with Aphrodite?" 

 
 "King Apollo," answered Hermes, "I only wish I
 might get the chance, though there were three times as many chains - and you
 might look on, all of you, gods and goddesses, but I would sleep with her if I
 could." 

 
 The immortal gods burst out laughing as they
 heard him, but Poseidon took it all seriously, and kept on imploring Hephaistos
 to set Ares free again. "Let him go," he cried, "and I will undertake, as you
 require, that he shall pay you all the damages that are held reasonable among
 the immortal gods." 

 
 "Do not," replied Hephaistos, "ask me to do
 this; a bad man's bond is bad security; what remedy could I enforce against you
 if Ares should go away and leave his debts behind him along with his
 chains?"

"Hephaistos," said Poseidon, "if Ares goes away
 without paying his damages, I will pay you myself." So Hephaistos answered, "In
 this case I cannot and must not refuse you." 

 
 Thereon he loosed the bonds that bound them,
 and as soon as they were free they scampered off, Ares to Thrace and laughter-loving Aphrodite to
 Cyprus and to Paphos , where is her grove and her altar
 fragrant with burnt offerings. Here the Graces bathed her, and anointed her
 with oil of ambrosia such as the immortal gods make use of, and they clothed
 her in raiment of the most enchanting beauty. 

 
 Thus sang the bard, and both Odysseus and the
 seafaring Phaeacians were charmed as they heard him. 

 
 Then Alkinoos told Laodamas and Halios to dance
 alone, for there was no one to compete with them. So they took a red ball which
 Polybos had made for them, and one of them bent himself backwards and threw it
 up towards the clouds, while the other jumped from off the ground and caught it
 with ease before it came down again. When they had done throwing the ball
 straight up into the air they began to dance, and at the same time kept on
 throwing it backwards and forwards to one another, while all the young men in
 the ring applauded and made a great stamping with their feet. Then Odysseus
 said:

"King Alkinoos, you said your people were the
 nimblest dancers in the world, and indeed they have proved themselves to be so.
 I was astonished as I saw them." 

 
 The king was delighted at this, and exclaimed
 to the Phaeacians "Aldermen and town councilors, our guest seems to be a person
 of singular judgment; let us give him such proof of our hospitality as he may
 reasonably expect. There are twelve chief men throughout the dêmos , and counting myself there are thirteen;
 contribute, each of you, a clean cloak, a shirt, and a talent of fine gold; let
 us give him all this in a lump down at once, so that when he gets his supper he
 may do so with a light heart. As for Euryalos, he will have to make a formal
 apology and a present too, for he has been rude." 

 
 Thus did he speak. The others all of them
 applauded his saying, and sent their servants to fetch the presents. Then
 Euryalos said, "King Alkinoos, I will give the stranger all the satisfaction
 you require. He shall have sword, which is of bronze, all but the hilt, which
 is of silver. I will also give him the scabbard of newly sawn ivory into which
 it fits. It will be worth a great deal to him." 

 
 As he spoke he placed the sword in the hands of
 Odysseus and said, "Good luck to you, father stranger; if anything has been
 said amiss may the winds blow it away with them, and may heaven grant you a
 safe return, for I understand you have been long away from home, and have gone
 through much hardship."

To which Odysseus answered, "Good luck to you
 too my friend, and may the gods grant you every happiness [ olbos ]. I hope you will not miss the sword you have given me along
 with your apology." 

 
 With these words he girded the sword about his
 shoulders and towards sundown the presents began to make their appearance, as
 the servants of the donors kept bringing them to the house of King Alkinoos;
 here his sons received them, and placed them under their mother's charge. Then
 Alkinoos led the way to the house and bade his guests take their seats. 

 
 "Wife," said he, turning to Queen Arete, "Go,
 fetch the best chest we have, and put a clean cloak and shirt in it. Also, set
 a copper on the fire and heat some water; our guest will take a warm bath; see
 also to the careful packing of the presents that the noble Phaeacians have made
 him; he will thus better enjoy both his supper and the singing that will
 follow. I shall myself give him this golden goblet - which is of exquisite
 workmanship - that he may be reminded of me for the rest of his life whenever
 he makes a drink-offering to Zeus, or to any of the gods." 

 
 Then Arete told her maids to set a large tripod
 upon the fire as fast as they could, whereon they set a tripod full of bath
 water on to a clear fire; they threw on sticks to make it blaze, and the water
 became hot as the flame played about the belly of the tripod. Meanwhile Arete
 brought a magnificent chest her own room, and inside it she packed all the
 beautiful presents of gold and raiment which the Phaeacians had brought. Lastly
 she added a cloak and a good shirt from Alkinoos, and said to Odysseus:

"See to the lid yourself, and have the whole
 bound round at once, for fear any one should rob you by the way when you are
 asleep in your ship." 

 
 When Odysseus heard this he put the lid on the
 chest and made it fast with a bond that Circe had taught him. He had done so
 before an upper servant told him to come to the bath and wash himself. He was
 very glad of a warm bath, for he had had no one to wait upon him ever since he
 left the house of Calypso, who as long as he remained with her had taken as
 good care of him as though he had been a god. When the servants had done
 washing and anointing him with oil, and had given him a clean cloak and shirt,
 he left the bath room and joined the guests who were sitting over their wine.
 Lovely Nausicaa stood by one of the bearing-posts supporting the roof of the
 room, and admired him as she saw him pass. "Farewell stranger," said she, "do
 not forget me when you are safe at home again, for it is to me first that you
 owe a ransom for having saved your life." 

 
 And Odysseus said, "Nausicaa, daughter of great
 Alkinoos, may Zeus the mighty husband of Hera, grant that I may reach my home
 and see my day of nostos ; so shall I bless you as a
 goddess all my days, for it was you who saved me." 

 
 When he had said this, he seated himself beside
 Alkinoos. Supper was then served, and the wine was mixed for drinking. A
 servant led in the favorite bard Demodokos, and set him in the midst of the
 company, near one of the bearing-posts supporting the room, that he might lean
 against it. Then Odysseus cut off a piece of roast pork with plenty of fat (for
 there was abundance left on the joint) and said to a servant, "Take this piece
 of pork over to Demodokos and tell him to eat it; for all the pain his lays may
 cause me I will salute him none the less; bards get honor and respect [ aidôs ] throughout the world, for the Muse teaches them
 their songs and loves them."

The servant carried the pork in his fingers
 over to Demodokos, who took it and was very much pleased. They then laid their
 hands on the good things that were before them, and as soon as they had had
 enough to eat and drink, Odysseus said to Demodokos, "Demodokos, there is no
 one in the world whom I praise with admiration more than I do you. You must
 have studied under the Muse, Zeus’ daughter, and under Apollo, - with such a
 sense of order [ kosmos ] do you sing the return of
 the Achaeans with all their sufferings and adventures. If you were not there
 yourself, you must have heard it all from some one who was. Now, however,
 change your song and tell us of the construction [ kosmos ] of the wooden horse which Epeios made with the assistance of
 Athena, and which Odysseus got by stratagem into the fort of Troy after freighting it with the men who
 afterwards sacked the city. If you will sing this tale aright I will tell all
 the world how magnificently heaven has endowed you." 

 
 The bard, inspired by a god, lit up the picture
 of his story, starting at the point where some of the Argives set fire to their
 tents and sailed away while others, hidden within the horse, were waiting with
 Odysseus in the Trojan place of assembly. For the Trojans themselves had drawn
 the horse into their fortress, and it stood there while they sat in council
 round it, and were in three minds as to what they should do. Some were for
 breaking it up then and there; others would have it dragged to the top of the
 rock on which the fortress stood, and then thrown down the precipice; while yet
 others were for letting it remain as an offering and propitiation for the gods.
 And this was how they settled it in the end, for the city was doomed when it
 took in that horse, within which were all the bravest of the Argives waiting to
 bring death and destruction on the Trojans. Anon he sang how the sons of the
 Achaeans issued from the horse, and sacked the town, breaking out from their
 ambuscade. He sang how they overran the city here and there and ravaged it, and
 how Odysseus went raging like Ares along with Menelaos to the house of
 Deiphobos. It was there that the fight raged most furiously, nevertheless by
 Athena's help he was victorious. 

 
 All this he told, but Odysseus was overcome as
 he heard him, and his cheeks were wet with tears. He wept as a woman weeps when
 she throws herself on the body of her husband who has fallen before his own
 city and people, fighting bravely in defense of his home and children. She
 screams aloud and flings her arms about him as he lies gasping for breath and
 dying, but her enemies beat her from behind about the back and shoulders, and
 carry her off into slavery, to a life of labor [ ponos ] and sorrow, and the beauty fades from her cheeks - even so
 piteously did Odysseus weep, but none of those present perceived his tears
 except Alkinoos, who was sitting near him, and could hear the sobs and sighs
 that he was heaving. The king, therefore, at once rose and said: 

 
 "Aldermen and town councilors of the
 Phaeacians, let Demodokos cease his song, for there are those present who do
 not seem to like it. From the moment that we had done supper and Demodokos
 began to sing, our guest has been all the time groaning and lamenting. He is
 evidently in great distress [ akhos ], so let the
 bard leave off, that we may all enjoy ourselves, hosts and guest alike. This
 will be much more as it should be, for all these festivities, with the escort
 and the presents that we are making with so much good will, are wholly in his
 honor, and any one with even a moderate amount of right feeling knows that he
 ought to treat a guest and a suppliant as though he were his own brother.

"Therefore, sir, do you on your part affect no
 more concealment nor reserve in the matter about which I shall ask you; it will
 be more polite in you to give me a plain answer; tell me the name by which your
 father and mother over yonder used to call you, and by which you were known
 among your neighbors and fellow-citizens. There is no one, neither rich nor
 poor, who is absolutely without any name whatever, for people's fathers and
 mothers give them names as soon as they are born. Tell me also your country,
 nation dêmos , and city, that our ships may shape
 their purpose accordingly and take you there. For the Phaeacians have no
 pilots; their vessels have no rudders as those of other nations have, but the
 ships themselves understand what it is that we are thinking about and want;
 they know all the cities and countries in the whole world, and can traverse the
 sea just as well even when it is covered with mist and cloud, so that there is
 no danger of being wrecked or coming to any harm. Still I do remember hearing
 my father say that Poseidon was angry with us for being too easy-going in the
 matter of giving people escorts. He said that one of these days he should wreck
 a ship of ours as it was returning from having escorted some one, and envelop
 our city with a high mountain. This is what the old man used to say, but
 whether the god will carry out his threat or no is a matter which he will
 decide for himself. 

 
 And now, tell me and tell me true. Where have
 you been wandering, and in what countries have you traveled? Tell us of the
 peoples themselves, and of their cities - who were hostile, savage and
 uncivilized [not dikaios ], and who, on the other
 hand, hospitable and endowed with a god-fearing noos . Tell us also why you are made unhappy on hearing about the
 return of the Argive Danaans from Troy . The gods arranged all this, and sent them their
 misfortunes in order that future generations might have something to sing
 about. Did you lose some brave kinsman of your wife's when you were before
 Troy ? A son-in-law or
 father-in-law - which are the nearest relations a man has outside his own flesh
 and blood? Or was it some brave and kindly-natured comrade - for a good friend
 is as dear to a man as his own brother?"

And Odysseus answered, "King Alkinoos, it is a
 good thing to hear a bard with such a divine voice as this man has. There is
 nothing better or more delightful than when merriment [ euphrosunê ] prevails over a whole dêmos ,
 with the guests sitting orderly to listen, while the table is loaded with bread
 and meats, and the cup-bearer draws wine and fills his cup for every man. This
 is indeed as fair a sight as a man can see. Now, however, since you are
 inclined to ask the story of my sorrows, and rekindle my own sad memories in
 respect of them, I do not know how to begin, nor yet how to continue and
 conclude my tale, for the hand of heaven has been laid heavily upon me. 

 
 "Firstly, then, I will tell you my name that you
 too may know it, and that one day, if I outlive this time of sorrow, I may
 become a guest-friend to you, though I live so far away from all of you. I am
 Odysseus son of Laertes , renowned
 among humankind for all manner of subtlety, so that my kleos ascends to heaven. I live in Ithaca , where there is a high mountain called Neritum, covered
 with forests; and not far from it there is a group of islands very near to one
 another - Dulichium, Same, and the wooded island of Zacynthus . It lies squat on the horizon, all
 highest up in the sea towards the sunset, while the others lie away from it
 towards dawn. It is a rugged island, but it breeds brave men, and my eyes know
 none that they better love to look upon. The goddess Calypso kept me with her
 in her cave, and wanted me to marry her, as did also the cunning Aeaean goddess
 Circe; but they could neither of them persuade me, for there is nothing dearer
 to a man than his own country and his parents, and however splendid a home he
 may have in a foreign country, if it be far from father or mother, he does not
 care about it. Now, however, I will tell you of the many hazardous adventures
 which by Zeus’ will I met with on my return [ nostos ] from Troy . 

 
 "When I had set sail thence the wind took me
 first to Ismaros, which is the city of the Kikones. There I sacked the town and
 put the people to the sword. We took their wives and also much booty, which we
 divided equitably amongst us, so that none might have reason to complain. I
 then said that we had better make off at once, but my men very foolishly would
 not obey me, so they stayed there drinking much wine and killing great numbers
 of sheep and oxen on the sea shore. Meanwhile the Kikones cried out for help to
 other Kikones who lived inland. These were more in number, and stronger, and
 they were more skilled in the art of war, for they could fight, either from
 chariots or on foot as the occasion served; in the morning, therefore, they
 came as thick as leaves and bloom in summertime [ hôra ], and the hand of heaven was against us, so that we were hard
 pressed. They set the battle in array near the ships, and the hosts aimed their
 bronze-shod spears at one another. So long as the day waxed and it was still
 morning, we held our own against them, though they were more in number than we;
 but as the sun went down, towards the time when men loose their oxen, the
 Kikones got the better of us, and we lost half a dozen men from every ship we
 had; so we got away with those that were left. 

 
 "Thence we sailed onward with sorrow in our
 hearts, but glad to have escaped death though we had lost our comrades, nor did
 we leave till we had thrice invoked each one of the poor men who had perished
 by the hands of the Kikones. Then Zeus raised the North wind against us till it
 blew a blast of wind, so that land and sky were hidden in thick clouds, and
 night sprang forth out of the heavens. We let the ships run before the gale,
 but the force of the wind tore our sails to tatters, so we took them down for
 fear of shipwreck, and rowed our hardest towards the land. There we lay two
 days and two nights suffering much alike from toil and distress of mind, but on
 the morning of the third day we again raised our masts, set sail, and took our
 places, letting the wind and steersmen direct our ship. I should have got home
 at that time unharmed had not the North wind and the currents been against me
 as I was doubling Cape Malea, and set me off my course hard by the island of
 Cythera .

"I was driven thence by foul winds for a space
 of nine days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the
 Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we
 landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the
 shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I chose [ krinô ] two of my company to go see what manner of men
 the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They
 started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no harm,
 but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of
 it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what
 had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the
 Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their nostos ; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back
 to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go
 on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off
 wanting to achieve a homecoming [ nostos ], so they
 took their places and smote the gray sea with their oars. 

 
 "We sailed hence, always in much distress, till
 we came to the land of the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes
 neither plant nor plough, but trust in providence, and live on such wheat,
 barley, and grapes as grow wild without any kind of tillage, and their wild
 grapes yield them wine as the sun and the rain may grow them. They have no laws
 nor assemblies of the people, but live in caves on the tops of high mountains;
 each is lord and master in his family, and they take no account of their
 neighbors. 

 
 "Now off their harbor there lies a wooded and
 fertile island not quite close to the land of the Cyclopes, but still not far.
 It is overrun with wild goats, that breed there in great numbers and are never
 disturbed by foot of man; for sportsmen - who as a rule will suffer so much
 hardship in forest or among mountain precipices - do not go there, nor yet
 again is it ever ploughed or fed down, but it lies a wilderness untilled and
 unsown from year to year, and has no living thing upon it but only goats. For
 the Cyclopes have no ships, nor yet shipwrights who could make ships for them;
 they cannot therefore go from city to city, or sail over the sea to one
 another's country as people who have ships can do; if they had had these they
 would have colonized the island, for it is a very good one, and would yield
 everything in due season. There are meadows that in some places come right down
 to the sea shore, well watered and full of luscious grass; grapes would do
 there excellently; there is level land for ploughing, and it would always yield
 heavily at harvest time [ hôra ], for the soil is
 deep. There is a good harbor where no cables are wanted, nor yet anchors, nor
 need a ship be moored, but all one has to do is to beach one's vessel and stay
 there till the wind becomes fair for putting out to sea again. At the head of
 the harbor there is a spring of clear water coming out of a cave, and there are
 poplars growing all round it. 

 
 "Here we entered, but so dark was the night
 that some god must have brought us in, for there was nothing whatever to be
 seen. A thick mist hung all round our ships; the moon was hidden behind a mass
 of clouds so that no one could have seen the island if he had looked for it,
 nor were there any breakers to tell us we were close in shore before we found
 ourselves upon the land itself; when, however, we had beached the ships, we
 took down the sails, went ashore and camped upon the beach till daybreak.

"When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
 appeared, we admired the island and wandered all over it, while the nymphs,
 Zeus’ daughters, roused the wild goats that we might get some meat for our
 dinner. On this we fetched our spears and bows and arrows from the ships, and
 dividing ourselves into three bands began to shoot the goats. Heaven sent us
 excellent sport; I had twelve ships with me, and each ship got nine goats,
 while my own ship had ten; thus through the livelong day to the going down of
 the sun we ate and drank our fill, - and we had plenty of wine left, for each
 one of us had taken many jars full when we sacked the city of the Kikones, and
 this had not yet run out. While we were feasting we kept turning our eyes
 towards the land of the Cyclopes, which was hard by, and saw the smoke of their
 stubble fires. We could almost fancy we heard their voices and the bleating of
 their sheep and goats, but when the sun went down and it came on dark, we
 camped down upon the beach, and next morning I called a council. 

 
 "‘Stay here, my brave men,’ said I, ‘all the
 rest of you, while I go with my ship and make trial of these people myself: I
 want to see if they are uncivilized [not dikaios ]
 savages, or a race hospitable and endowed with a god-fearing noos .’ 

 
 "I went on board, bidding my men to do so also
 and loose the hawsers; so they took their places and smote the gray sea with
 their oars. When we got to the land, which was not far, there, on the face of a
 cliff near the sea, we saw a great cave overhung with laurels. It was a station
 for a great many sheep and goats, and outside there was a large yard, with a
 high wall round it made of stones built into the ground and of trees both pine
 and oak. This was the abode of a huge monster who was then away from home
 shepherding his flocks. He would have nothing to do with other people, but led
 the life of an outlaw. He was a horrid creature, not like a human being at all,
 but resembling rather some crag that stands out boldly against the sky on the
 top of a high mountain. 

 
 "I told my men to draw the ship ashore, and
 stay where they were, all but the twelve best [ krînô ] among them, who were to go along with myself. I also took a
 goatskin of sweet black wine which had been given me by Maron, Apollo son of
 Euanthes, who was priest of Apollo the patron god of Ismaros, and lived within
 the wooded precincts of the temple. When we were sacking the city we respected
 him, and spared his life, as also his wife and child; so he made me some
 presents of great value - seven talents of fine gold, and a bowl of silver,
 with twelve jars of sweet wine, unblended, and of the most exquisite flavor.
 Not a man nor maid in the house knew about it, but only himself, his wife, and
 one housekeeper: when he drank it he mixed twenty parts of water to one of
 wine, and yet the fragrance from the mixing-bowl was so exquisite that it was
 impossible to refrain from drinking. I filled a large skin with this wine, and
 took a wallet full of provisions with me, for my mind misgave me that I might
 have to deal with some savage who would be of great strength, and would respect
 neither right [ dikê ] nor law.

"We soon reached his cave, but he was out
 shepherding, so we went inside and took stock of all that we could see. His
 cheese-racks were loaded with cheeses, and he had more lambs and kids than his
 pens could hold. They were kept in separate flocks; first there were the
 hoggets, then the oldest of the younger lambs and lastly the very young ones
 all kept apart from one another; as for his dairy, all the vessels, bowls, and
 milk pails into which he milked, were swimming with whey. When they saw all
 this, my men begged me to let them first steal some cheeses, and make off with
 them to the ship; they would then return, drive down the lambs and kids, put
 them on board and sail away with them. It would have been indeed better if we
 had done so but I would not listen to them, for I wanted to see the owner
 himself, in the hope that he might give me a present. When, however, we saw him
 my poor men found him ill to deal with. 

 
 "We lit a fire, offered some of the cheeses in
 sacrifice, ate others of them, and then sat waiting till the Cyclops should come in with his sheep. When he
 came, he brought in with him a huge load of dry firewood to light the fire for
 his supper, and this he flung with such a noise on to the floor of his cave
 that we hid ourselves for fear at the far end of the cavern. Meanwhile he drove
 all the ewes inside, as well as the she-goats that he was going to milk,
 leaving the males, both rams and he-goats, outside in the yards. Then he rolled
 a huge stone to the mouth of the cave - so huge that two and twenty strong
 four-wheeled wagons would not be enough to draw it from its place against the
 doorway. When he had so done he sat down and milked his ewes and goats, all in
 due course, and then let each of them have her own young. He curdled half the
 milk and set it aside in wicker strainers, but the other half he poured into
 bowls that he might drink it for his supper. When he had got through with all
 his work, he lit the fire, and then caught sight of us, whereon he said: 

 
 "‘Strangers, who are you? Where do sail from?
 Are you traders, or do you sail the sea as rovers, with your hands against
 every man, and every man's hand against you?’ 

 
 "We were frightened out of our senses by his
 loud voice and monstrous form, but I managed to say, ‘We are Achaeans on our
 way home from Troy , but by the will
 of Zeus, and stress of weather, we have been driven far out of our course. We
 are the people of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, who has won infinite kleos throughout the whole world, by sacking so great
 a city and killing so many people. We therefore humbly pray you to show us some
 hospitality, and otherwise make us such presents as visitors may reasonably
 expect. May your excellency give reverence [ aidôs ]
 to the gods, for we are your suppliants, and Zeus takes all respectable
 travelers under his protection, for he is the avenger of all suppliants and
 foreigners in distress.’

"To this he gave me but a pitiless answer,
 ‘Stranger,’ said he, ‘you are a fool, or else you know nothing of this country.
 Talk to me, indeed, about fearing the gods or shunning their anger? We Cyclopes
 do not care about Zeus or any of your blessed gods, for we are ever so much
 stronger than they. I shall not spare either yourself or your companions out of
 any regard for Zeus, unless I am in the humor for doing so. And now tell me
 where you made your ship fast when you came on shore. Was it round the point,
 or is she lying straight off the land?’ 

 
 "He said this to draw me out, but I was too
 cunning to be caught in that way, so I answered with a lie; ‘Poseidon,’ said I,
 ‘sent my ship on to the rocks at the far end of your country, and wrecked it.
 We were driven on to them from the open sea, but I and those who are with me
 escaped the jaws of death.’ 

 
 "The cruel wretch granted me not one word of
 answer, but with a sudden clutch he gripped up two of my men at once and dashed
 them down upon the ground as though they had been puppies. Their brains were
 shed upon the ground, and the earth was wet with their blood. Then he tore them
 limb from limb and supped upon them. He gobbled them up like a lion in the
 wilderness, flesh, bones, marrow, and entrails, without leaving anything
 uneaten. As for us, we wept and lifted up our hands to heaven on seeing such a
 horrid sight, for we did not know what else to do; but when the Cyclops had filled his huge paunch, and had
 washed down his meal of human flesh with a drink of neat milk, he stretched
 himself full length upon the ground among his sheep, and went to sleep. I was
 at first inclined to seize my sword, draw it, and drive it into his vitals, but
 I reflected that if I did we should all certainly be lost, for we should never
 be able to shift the stone which the monster had put in front of the door. So
 we stayed sobbing and sighing where we were till morning came. 

 
 "When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
 appeared, he again lit his fire, milked his goats and ewes, all quite rightly,
 and then let each have her own young one; as soon as he had got through with
 all his work, he clutched up two more of my men, and began eating them for his
 morning's meal. Presently, with the utmost ease, he rolled the stone away from
 the door and drove out his sheep, but he at once put it back again - as easily
 as though he were merely clapping the lid on to a quiver full of arrows. As
 soon as he had done so he shouted, and cried ‘Shoo, shoo,’ after his sheep to
 drive them on to the mountain; so I was left to scheme some way of taking my
 revenge and covering myself with glory.

"In the end I deemed it would be the best plan
 to do as follows. The Cyclops had a
 great club which was lying near one of the sheep pens; it was of green olive
 wood, and he had cut it intending to use it for a staff as soon as it should be
 dry. It was so huge that we could only compare it to the mast of a twenty-oared
 merchant vessel of large burden, and able to venture out into open sea. I went
 up to this club and cut off about six feet of it; I then gave this piece to the
 men and told them to fine it evenly off at one end, which they proceeded to do,
 and lastly I brought it to a point myself, charring the end in the fire to make
 it harder. When I had done this I hid it under dung, which was lying about all
 over the cave, and told the men to cast lots which of them should venture along
 with myself to lift it and bore it into the monster's eye while he was asleep.
 The lot fell upon the very four whom I should have chosen, and I myself made
 five. In the evening the wretch came back from shepherding, and drove his
 flocks into the cave - this time driving them all inside, and not leaving any
 in the yards; I suppose some fancy must have taken him, or a god must have
 prompted him to do so. As soon as he had put the stone back to its place
 against the door, he sat down, milked his ewes and his goats all quite rightly,
 and then let each have her own young one; when he had got through with all this
 work, he gripped up two more of my men, and made his supper off them. So I went
 up to him with an ivy-wood bowl of black wine in my hands: 

 
 "‘Look here, Cyclops ,’ said I, 'you have been eating a great deal of man's
 flesh, so take this and drink some wine, that you may see what kind of liquor
 we had on board my ship. I was bringing it to you as a drink-offering, in the
 hope that you would take compassion upon me and further me on my way home,
 whereas all you do is to go on ramping and raving most intolerably. You ought
 to be ashamed yourself; how can you expect people to come see you any more if
 you treat them in this way?’ 

 
 "He then took the cup and drank. He was so
 delighted with the taste of the wine that he begged me for another bowl full.
 ‘Be so kind,’ he said, ‘as to give me some more, and tell me your name at once.
 I want to make you a present that you will be glad to have. We have wine even
 in this country, for our soil grows grapes and the sun ripens them, but this
 drinks like nectar and ambrosia all in one.’ 

 
 "I then gave him some more; three times did I
 fill the bowl for him, and three times did he drain it without thought or heed;
 then, when I saw that the wine had got into his head, I said to him as
 plausibly as I could: ‘ Cyclops , you
 ask my name and I will tell it you; give me, therefore, the present you
 promised me; my name is Noman; this is what my father and mother and my friends
 have always called me.’

"But the cruel wretch said, ‘Then I will eat
 all Noman's comrades before Noman himself, and will keep Noman for the last.
 This is the present that I will make him.’ 

 
 As he spoke he reeled, and fell sprawling face
 upwards on the ground. His great neck hung heavily backwards and a deep sleep
 took hold upon him. Presently he turned sick, and threw up both wine and the
 gobbets of human flesh on which he had been gorging, for he was very drunk.
 Then I thrust the beam of wood far into the embers to heat it, and encouraged
 my men lest any of them should turn faint-hearted. When the wood, green though
 it was, was about to blaze, I drew it out of the fire glowing with heat, and my
 men gathered round me, for a daimôn had filled
 their hearts with courage. We drove the sharp end of the beam into the
 monster's eye, and bearing upon it with all my weight I kept turning it round
 and round as though I were boring a hole in a ship's plank with an auger, which
 two men with a wheel and strap can keep on turning as long as they choose. Even
 thus did we bore the red hot beam into his eye, till the boiling blood bubbled
 all over it as we worked it round and round, so that the steam from the burning
 eyeball scalded his eyelids and eyebrows, and the roots of the eye sputtered in
 the fire. As a blacksmith plunges an axe or hatchet into cold water to temper
 it - for it is this that gives strength to the iron - and it makes a great hiss
 as he does so, even thus did the Cyclops ’ eye hiss round the beam of olive wood, and his hideous
 yells made the cave ring again. We ran away in a fright, but he plucked the
 beam all besmirched with gore from his eye, and hurled it from him in a frenzy
 of rage and pain, shouting as he did so to the other Cyclopes who lived on the
 bleak headlands near him; so they gathered from all quarters round his cave
 when they heard him crying, and asked what was the matter with him. 

 
 "‘What ails you, Polyphemus,’ said they, ‘that
 you make such a noise, breaking the stillness of the night, and preventing us
 from being able to sleep? Surely no man is carrying off your sheep? Surely no
 man is trying to kill you either by fraud or by force [ biê ]? 

 
 "But Polyphemus shouted to them from inside the
 cave, ‘Noman is killing me by fraud! Noman is killing me by force [ biê ]!’

"‘Then,’ said they, ‘if no man is attacking
 you, you must be ill; when Zeus makes people ill, there is no help for it, and
 you had better pray to your father Poseidon.’ 

 
 "Then they went away, and I laughed inwardly at
 the success of my clever stratagem, but the Cyclops , groaning and in an agony of pain, felt about with his
 hands till he found the stone and took it from the door; then he sat in the
 doorway and stretched his hands in front of it to catch anyone going out with
 the sheep, for he thought I might be foolish enough to attempt this. 

 
 "As for myself I kept on puzzling to think how
 I could best save my own life [ psukhê ] and those of
 my companions; I schemed and schemed, as one who knows that his life depends
 upon it, for the danger was very great. In the end I deemed that this plan
 would be the best. The male sheep were well grown, and carried a heavy black
 fleece, so I bound them noiselessly in threes together, with some of the
 withies on which the wicked monster used to sleep. There was to be a man under
 the middle sheep, and the two on either side were to cover him, so that there
 were three sheep to each man. As for myself there was a ram finer than any of
 the others, so I caught hold of him by the back, ensconced myself in the thick
 wool under his belly, and hung on patiently to his fleece, face upwards,
 keeping a firm hold on it all the time. 

 
 "Thus, then, did we wait in great fear of mind
 till morning came, but when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,
 the male sheep hurried out to feed, while the ewes remained bleating about the
 pens waiting to be milked, for their udders were full to bursting; but their
 master in spite of all his pain felt the backs of all the sheep as they stood
 upright, without being sharp enough to find out that the men were underneath
 their bellies. As the ram was going out, last of all, heavy with its fleece and
 with the weight of my crafty self; Polyphemus laid hold of it and said:

"‘My good ram, what is it that makes you the
 last to leave my cave this morning? You are not wont to let the ewes go before
 you, but lead the mob with a run whether to flowery mead or bubbling fountain,
 and are the first to come home again at night; but now you lag last of all. Is
 it because you know your master has lost his eye, and are sorry because that
 wicked Noman and his horrid crew have got him down in his drink and blinded
 him? But I will have his life yet. If you could understand and talk, you would
 tell me where the wretch is hiding, and I would dash his brains upon the ground
 till they flew all over the cave. I should thus have some satisfaction for the
 harm this no-good Noman has done me.’ 

 
 "As spoke he drove the ram outside, but when we
 were a little way out from the cave and yards, I first got from under the ram's
 belly, and then freed my comrades; as for the sheep, which were very fat, by
 constantly heading them in the right direction we managed to drive them down to
 the ship. The crew rejoiced greatly at seeing those of us who had escaped
 death, but wept for the others whom the Cyclops had killed. However, I made signs to them by nodding
 and frowning that they were to hush their crying, and told them to get all the
 sheep on board at once and put out to sea; so they went aboard, took their
 places, and smote the gray sea with their oars. Then, when I had got as far out
 as my voice would reach, I began to jeer at the Cyclops . 

 
 "‘ Cyclops ,’ said I, ‘you should have taken better measure of your
 man before eating up his comrades in your cave. You wretch, do you intend by
 violence [ biê ] to eat up your visitors in your own
 cave? You might have known that your derangement would find you out, and now
 Zeus and the other gods have punished you.’ 

 
 "He got more and more furious as he heard me,
 so he tore the top from off a high mountain, and flung it just in front of my
 ship so that it was within a little of hitting the end of the rudder. The sea
 quaked as the rock fell into it, and the wash of the wave it raised carried us
 back towards the mainland, and forced us towards the shore. But I snatched up a
 long pole and kept the ship off, making signs to my men by nodding my head,
 that they must row for their lives, whereon they laid out with a will. When we
 had got twice as far as we were before, I was for jeering at the Cyclops again, but the men begged and prayed
 of me to hold my tongue.

"‘Do not,’ they exclaimed, ‘be mad enough to
 provoke this savage creature further; he has thrown one rock at us already
 which drove us back again to the mainland, and we made sure it had been the
 death of us; if he had then heard any further sound of voices he would have
 pounded our heads and our ship's timbers into a jelly with the rugged rocks he
 would have heaved at us, for he can throw them a long way.’ 

 
 "But I would not listen to them, and shouted
 out to him in my rage, ‘ Cyclops , if
 any one asks you who it was that put your eye out and spoiled your beauty, say
 it was the valiant warrior Odysseus, son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca .’ 

 
 "On this he groaned, and cried out, ‘Alas,
 alas, then the old prophecy about me is coming true. There was a seer [ mantis ] here, at one time, a man both brave and of
 great stature, Telemos son of Eurymos, who was an excellent seer, and did all
 the prophesying for the Cyclopes till he grew old; he told me that all this
 would happen to me some day, and said I should lose my sight by the hand of
 Odysseus. I have been all along expecting some one of imposing presence and
 superhuman strength, whereas he turns out to be a little insignificant
 weakling, who has managed to blind my eye by taking advantage of me in my
 drink; come here, then, Odysseus, that I may make you presents to show my
 hospitality, and urge Poseidon to help you forward on your journey - for
 Poseidon and I are father and son. He, if he so will, shall heal me, which no
 one else neither god nor man can do.’ 

 
 "Then I said, ‘I wish I could be as sure of
 killing you outright and sending you down, bereft of your psukhê , to the house of Hades, as I am that it will take more than
 Poseidon to cure that eye of yours.’

"On this he lifted up his hands to the
 firmament of heaven and prayed, saying, ‘Hear me, great Poseidon; if I am
 indeed your own true-begotten son, grant that Odysseus may never reach his home
 alive; or if he must get back to his friends at last, let him do so late and in
 sore plight after losing all his men let him reach his home in another man's
 ship and find trouble in his house.’ 

 
 "Thus did he pray, and Poseidon heard his
 prayer. Then he picked up a rock much larger than the first, swung it aloft and
 hurled it with prodigious force. It fell just short of the ship, but was within
 a little of hitting the end of the rudder. The sea quaked as the rock fell into
 it, and the wash of the wave it raised drove us onwards on our way towards the
 shore of the island. 

 
 "When at last we got to the island where we had
 left the rest of our ships, we found our comrades lamenting us, and anxiously
 awaiting our return. We ran our vessel upon the sands and got out of her on to
 the sea shore; we also landed the Cyclops ’ sheep, and divided them equitably amongst us so that
 none might have reason to complain. As for the ram, my companions agreed that I
 should have it as an extra share; so I sacrificed it on the sea shore, and
 burned its thigh bones to Zeus, who is the lord of all. But he heeded not my
 sacrifice, and only thought how he might destroy my ships and my comrades. 

 
 "Thus through the livelong day to the going
 down of the sun we feasted our fill on meat and drink, but when the sun went
 down and it came on dark, we camped upon the beach. When the child of morning,
 rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I bade my men on board and loose the hawsers.
 Then they took their places and smote the gray sea with their oars; so we
 sailed on with sorrow in our hearts, but glad to have escaped death though we
 had lost our comrades.

Thence we went on to the Aeolian island where
 lives Aeolus son of Hippotas, dear to the immortal gods. It is an island that
 floats (as it were) upon the sea, iron bound with a wall that girds it. Now,
 Aeolus has six daughters and six sons in the bloom of youth, so he made the
 sons marry the daughters, and they all live with their dear father and mother,
 feasting and enjoying every conceivable kind of luxury. All day long the
 atmosphere of the house is loaded with the savor of roasting meats till it
 groans again, yard and all; but by night they sleep on their well-made
 bedsteads, each with his own wife between the blankets. These were the people
 among whom we had now come. 

 
 "Aeolus entertained me for a whole month asking
 me questions all the time about Troy ,
 the Argive fleet, and the return
 [ nostos ] of the Achaeans. I told him exactly how
 everything had happened, and when I said I must go, and asked him to further me
 on my way, he made no sort of difficulty, but set about doing so at once.
 Moreover, he flayed me a prime ox-hide to hold the ways of the roaring winds,
 which he shut up in the hide as in a sack - for Zeus had made him captain over
 the winds, and he could stir or still each one of them according to his own
 pleasure. He put the sack in the ship and bound the mouth so tightly with a
 silver thread that not even a breath of a side-wind could blow from any
 quarter. The West wind which was fair for us did he alone let blow as it chose;
 but it all came to nothing, for we were lost through our own folly. 

 
 "Nine days and nine nights did we sail, and on
 the tenth day our native land showed on the horizon. We got so close in that we
 could see the stubble fires burning, and I, being then dead tired, fell into a
 light sleep, for I had never let the rudder out of my own hands, that we might
 get home the faster. On this the men fell to talking among themselves, and said
 I was bringing back gold and silver in the sack that Aeolus had given me.
 ‘Bless my heart,’ would one turn to his neighbor, saying, ‘how this man gets
 honored and makes friends in whatever city or country he may go. See what fine
 prizes he is taking home from Troy ,
 while we, who have traveled just as far as he has, come back with hands as
 empty as we set out with - and now Aeolus has given him ever so much more.
 Quick - let us see what it all is, and how much gold and silver there is in the
 sack he gave him.’ 

 
 "Thus they talked and evil counsels prevailed.
 They loosed the sack, whereupon the wind flew howling forth and raised a storm
 that carried us weeping out to sea and away from our own country. Then I awoke,
 and knew not whether to throw myself into the sea or to live on and make the
 best of it; but I bore it, covered myself up, and lay down in the ship, while
 the men lamented bitterly as the fierce winds bore our fleet back to the
 Aeolian island.

"When we reached it we went ashore to take in
 water, and dined hard by the ships. Immediately after dinner I took a herald
 and one of my men and went straight to the house of Aeolus, where I found him
 feasting with his wife and family; so we sat down as suppliants on the
 threshold. They were astounded when they saw us and said, ‘Odysseus, what
 brings you here? What daimôn has been ill-treating
 you? We took great pains to further you on your way home to Ithaca , or wherever it was that you wanted to
 go to.’ 

 
 "Thus did they speak, but I answered
 sorrowfully, ‘My men have undone me; they, and cruel sleep, have ruined me. My
 friends, mend me this mischief, for you can if you will.’ 

 
 "I spoke as movingly as I could, but they said
 nothing, till their father answered, ‘Vilest of humankind, get you gone at once
 out of the island; him whom heaven hates will I in no wise help. Be off, for
 you come here as one abhorred of heaven.' And with these words he sent me
 sorrowing from his door. 

 
 "Thence we sailed sadly on till the men were
 worn out with long and fruitless rowing, for there was no longer any wind to
 help them. Six days, night and day did we toil, and on the seventh day we
 reached the rocky stronghold of Lamos - Telepylos, the city of the Laestrygonians, where the
 shepherd who is driving in his sheep and goats [to be milked] salutes him who
 is driving out his flock [to feed] and this last answers the salute. In that
 country a man who could do without sleep might earn double wages, one as a
 herdsman of cattle, and another as a shepherd, for they work much the same by
 night as they do by day.

"When we reached the harbor we found it
 land-locked under steep cliffs, with a narrow entrance between two headlands.
 My captains took all their ships inside, and made them fast close to one
 another, for there was never so much as a breath of wind inside, but it was
 always dead calm. I kept my own ship outside, and moored it to a rock at the
 very end of the point; then I climbed a high rock to reconnoiter, but could see
 no sign neither of man nor cattle, only some smoke rising from the ground. So I
 sent two of my company with an attendant to find out what sort of people the
 inhabitants were. 

 
 "The men when they got on shore followed a
 level road by which the people draw their firewood from the mountains into the
 town, till presently they met a young woman who had come outside to fetch
 water, and who was daughter to a Laestrygonian named Antiphates. She was going
 to the fountain Artacia from which the people bring in their water, and when my
 men had come close up to her, they asked her who the king of that country might
 be, and over what kind of people he ruled; so she directed them to her father's
 house, but when they got there they found his wife to be a giantess as huge as
 a mountain, and they were horrified at the sight of her. 

 
 "She at once called her husband Antiphates from
 the place of assembly, and forthwith he set about killing my men. He snatched
 up one of them, and began to make his dinner of him then and there, whereon the
 other two ran back to the ships as fast as ever they could. But Antiphates
 raised a hue and cry after them, and thousands of sturdy Laestrygonians sprang
 up from every quarter - ogres, not men. They threw vast rocks at us from the
 cliffs as though they had been mere stones, and I heard the horrid sound of the
 ships crunching up against one another, and the death cries of my men, as the
 Laestrygonians speared them like fishes and took them home to eat them. While
 they were thus killing my men within the harbor I drew my sword, cut the cable
 of my own ship, and told my men to row with all their might if they too would
 not fare like the rest; so they laid out for their lives, and we were thankful
 enough when we got into open water out of reach of the rocks they hurled at us.
 As for the others there was not one of them left. 

 
 "Thence we sailed sadly on, glad to have
 escaped death, though we had lost our comrades, and came to the Aeaean island,
 where Circe lives, a great and cunning goddess who is own sister to the
 magician Aietes - for they are both children of the sun by Perse, who is
 daughter to Okeanos. We brought our ship into a safe harbor without a word, for
 some god guided us there, and having landed we stayed there for two days and
 two nights, worn out in body and mind. When the morning of the third day came I
 took my spear and my sword, and went away from the ship to reconnoiter, and see
 if I could discover signs of human handiwork, or hear the sound of voices.
 Climbing to the top of a high look-out I espied the smoke of Circe's house
 rising upwards amid a dense forest of trees, and when I saw this I doubted
 whether, having seen the smoke, I would not go on at once and find out more,
 but in the end I deemed it best to go back to the ship, give the men their
 dinners, and send some of them instead of going myself.

"When I had nearly got back to the ship some
 god took pity upon my solitude, and sent a fine antlered stag right into the
 middle of my path. He was coming down his pasture in the forest to drink of the
 river, for the heat of the sun drove him, and as he passed I struck him in the
 middle of the back; the bronze point of the spear went clean through him, and
 he lay groaning in the dust until the life went out of him. Then I set my foot
 upon him, drew my spear from the wound, and laid it down; I also gathered rough
 grass and rushes and twisted them into a fathom or so of good stout rope, with
 which I bound the four feet of the noble creature together; having so done I
 hung him round my neck and walked back to the ship leaning upon my spear, for
 the stag was much too big for me to be able to carry him on my shoulder,
 steadying him with one hand. As I threw him down in front of the ship, I called
 the men and spoke cheeringly man by man to each of them. ‘Look here my
 friends,’ said I, ‘we are not going to die so much before our time after all,
 and at any rate we will not starve so long as we have got something to eat and
 drink on board.’ On this they uncovered their heads upon the sea shore and
 admired the stag, for he was indeed a splendid man. Then, when they had feasted
 their eyes upon him sufficiently, they washed their hands and began to cook him
 for dinner. 

 
 "Thus through the livelong day to the going
 down of the sun we stayed there eating and drinking our fill, but when the sun
 went down and it came on dark, we camped upon the sea shore. When the child of
 morning, fingered Dawn, appeared, I called a council and said, ‘My friends, we
 are in very great difficulties; listen therefore to me. We have no idea where
 the sun either sets or rises, so that we do not even know East from West. I see
 no way out of it; nevertheless, we must try and find one. We are certainly on
 an island, for I went as high as I could this morning, and saw the sea reaching
 all round it to the horizon; it lies low, but towards the middle I saw smoke
 rising from out of a thick forest of trees.’ 

 
 "Their hearts sank as they heard me, for they
 remembered how they had been treated by the Laestrygonian Antiphates, and by
 the savage ogre Polyphemus. They wept bitterly in their dismay, but there was
 nothing to be got by crying, so I divided them into two companies and set a
 leader over each; I gave one company to Eurylokhos, while I took command of the
 other myself. Then we cast lots in a helmet, and the lot fell upon Eurylokhos;
 so he set out with his twenty-two men, and they wept, as also did we who were
 left behind. 

 
 "When they reached Circe's house they found it
 built of cut stones, on a site that could be seen from far, in the middle of
 the forest. There were wild mountain wolves and lions prowling all round it -
 poor bewitched creatures whom she had tamed by her enchantments and drugged
 into subjection. They did not attack my men, but wagged their great tails,
 fawned upon them, and rubbed their noses lovingly against them. As hounds crowd
 round their master when they see him coming from dinner - for they know he will
 bring them something - even so did these wolves and lions with their great
 claws fawn upon my men, but the men were terribly frightened at seeing such
 strange creatures. Presently they reached the gates of the goddess’ house, and
 as they stood there they could hear Circe within, singing most beautifully as
 she worked at her loom, making a web so fine, so soft, and of such dazzling
 colors as no one but a goddess could weave. On this Polites, whom I valued and
 trusted more than any other of my men, said, ‘There is some one inside working
 at a loom and singing most beautifully; the whole place resounds with it, let
 us call her and see whether she is woman or goddess.’

"They called her and she came down, unfastened
 the door, and bade them enter. They, thinking no evil, followed her, all except
 Eurylokhos, who suspected mischief and stayed outside. When she had got them
 into her house, she set them upon benches and seats and mixed them a drink with
 cheese, honey, meal, and Pramnian wine but she drugged it with wicked poisons
 to make them forget their homes, and when they had drunk she turned them into
 pigs by a stroke of her wand, and shut them up in her pigsties. They were like
 pigs- head, hair, and all, and they grunted just as pigs do; but their senses
 [ noos ] were the same as before, and they
 remembered everything. 

 
 "Thus then were they shut up squealing, and
 Circe threw them some acorns and beech masts such as pigs eat, but Eurylokhos
 hurried back to tell me about the sad fate of our comrades. He was so overcome
 with dismay that though he tried to speak he could find no words to do so; his
 eyes filled with tears and he could only sob and sigh, till at last we forced
 his story out of him, and he told us what had happened to the others. 

 
 "‘We went,’ said he, ‘as you told us, through
 the forest, and in the middle of it there was a fine house built with cut
 stones in a place that could be seen from far. There we found a woman, or else
 she was a goddess, working at her loom and singing sweetly; so the men shouted
 to her and called her, whereon she at once came down, opened the door, and
 invited us in. The others did not suspect any mischief so they followed her
 into the house, but I stayed where I was, for I thought there might be some
 treachery. From that moment I saw them no more, for not one of them ever came
 out, though I sat a long time watching for them.’ 

 
 "Then I took my sword of bronze and slung it
 over my shoulders; I also took my bow, and told Eurylokhos to come back with me
 and show me the way. But he laid hold of me with both his hands and spoke
 piteously, saying, ‘Sir, do not force me to go with you, but let me stay here,
 for I know you will not bring one of them back with you, nor even return alive
 yourself; let us rather see if we cannot escape at any rate with the few that
 are left us, for we may still save our lives.’

"‘Stay where you are, then,’ answered I,
 ‘eating and drinking at the ship, but I must go, for I am most urgently bound
 to do so.’ 

 
 "With this I left the ship and went up inland.
 When I got through the charmed grove, and was near the great house of the
 enchantress Circe, I met Hermes with his golden wand, disguised as a young man
 in the hey-day of his youth and beauty with the down just coming upon his face.
 He came up to me and took my hand within his own, saying, ‘My poor unhappy man,
 whither are you going over this mountain top, alone and without knowing the
 way? Your men are shut up in Circe's pigsties, like so many wild boars in their
 lairs. You surely do not fancy that you can set them free? I can tell you that
 you will never get back and will have to stay there with the rest of them. But
 never mind, I will protect you and get you out of your difficulty. Take this
 herb, which is one of great virtue, and keep it about you when you go to
 Circe's house, it will be a talisman to you against every kind of mischief. 

 
 "‘And I will tell you of all the wicked
 witchcraft that Circe will try to practice upon you. She will mix a potion for
 you to drink, and she will drug the meal with which she makes it, but she will
 not be able to charm you, for the virtue of the herb that I shall give you will
 prevent her spells from working. I will tell you all about it. When Circe
 strikes you with her wand, draw your sword and spring upon her as though you
 were goings to kill her. She will then be frightened and will desire you to go
 to bed with her; on this you must not point blank refuse her, for you want her
 to set your companions free, and to take good care also of yourself, but you
 make her swear solemnly by all the blessed that she will plot no further
 mischief against you, or else when she has got you naked she will unman you and
 make you fit for nothing.’ 

 
 "As he spoke he pulled the herb out of the
 ground an showed me what it was like. The root was black, while the flower was
 as white as milk; the gods call it Moly, and mortal men cannot uproot it, but
 the gods can do whatever they like.

"Then Hermes went back to high Olympus passing over the wooded island; but I
 fared onward to the house of Circe, and my heart was clouded with care as I
 walked along. When I got to the gates I stood there and called the goddess, and
 as soon as she heard me she came down, opened the door, and asked me to come
 in; so I followed her - much troubled in my mind. She set me on a richly
 decorated seat inlaid with silver, there was a footstool also under my feet,
 and she mixed a mess in a golden goblet for me to drink; but she drugged it,
 for she meant me mischief. When she had given it me, and I had drunk it without
 its charming me, she struck me with her wand. ‘There now,’ she cried, ‘be off
 to the pigsty, and make your lair with the rest of them.’ 

 
 "But I rushed at her with my sword drawn as
 though I would kill her, whereon she fell with a loud scream, clasped my knees,
 and spoke piteously, saying, ‘Who and whence are you? From what place and
 people have you come? How can it be that my drugs have no power to charm you?
 Never yet was any man able to stand so much as a taste of the herb I gave you;
 you must have some sort of spell-proof noos ; surely
 you can be none other than the bold hero Odysseus, who Hermes always said would
 come here some day with his ship while on his way home from Troy ; so be it then; sheathe your sword and
 let us go to bed, that we may make friends and learn to trust each other.’ 

 
 "And I answered, ‘Circe, how can you expect me
 to be friendly with you when you have just been turning all my men into pigs?
 And now that you have got me here myself, you mean me mischief when you ask me
 to go to bed with you, and will unman me and make me fit for nothing. I shall
 certainly not consent to go to bed with you unless you will first take your
 solemn oath to plot no further harm against me.’ 

 
 "So she swore at once as I had told her, and
 when she had completed her oath then I went to bed with her.

"Meanwhile her four servants, who are her
 housemaids, set about their work. They are the children of the groves and
 fountains, and of the holy waters that run down into the sea. One of them
 spread a fair purple cloth over a seat, and laid a carpet underneath it.
 Another brought tables of silver up to the seats, and set them with baskets of
 gold. A third mixed some sweet wine with water in a silver bowl and put golden
 cups upon the tables, while the fourth brought in water and set it to boil in a
 large cauldron over a good fire which she had lighted. When the water in the
 cauldron was boiling, she poured cold into it till it was just as I liked it,
 and then she set me in a bath and began washing me from the cauldron about the
 head and shoulders, to take the tire and stiffness out of my limbs. As soon as
 she had done washing me and anointing me with oil, she arrayed me in a good
 cloak and shirt and led me to a richly decorated seat inlaid with silver; there
 was a footstool also under my feet. A maid servant then brought me water in a
 beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin for me to wash my
 hands, and she drew a clean table beside me; an upper servant brought me bread
 and offered me many things of what there was in the house, and then Circe bade
 me eat, but I would not, and sat without heeding what was before me, still
 moody and suspicious. 

 
 "When Circe saw me sitting there without
 eating, and in great grief [ penthos ], she came to
 me and said, ‘Odysseus, why do you sit like that as though you were dumb,
 gnawing at your own heart, and refusing both meat and drink? Is it that you are
 still suspicious? You ought not to be, for I have already sworn solemnly that I
 will not hurt you.’ 

 
 "And I said, ‘Circe, no man with any sense of
 what is right can think of either eating or drinking in your house until you
 have set his friends free and let him see them. If you want me to eat and
 drink, you must free my men and bring them to me that I may see them with my
 own eyes.’ 

 
 "When I had said this she went straight through
 the court with her wand in her hand and opened the pigsty doors. My men came
 out like so many prime hogs and stood looking at her, but she went about among
 them and anointed each with a second drug, whereon the bristles that the bad
 drug had given them fell off, and they became men again, younger than they were
 before, and much taller and better looking. They knew me at once, seized me
 each of them by the hand, and wept for joy till the whole house was filled with
 the sound of their wailing, and Circe herself was so sorry for them that she
 came up to me and said, ‘Odysseus, noble son of Laertes , go back at once to the sea where
 you have left your ship, and first draw it on to the land. Then, hide all your
 ship's gear and property in some cave, and come back here with your men.’

"I agreed to this, so I went back to the sea
 shore, and found the men at the ship weeping and wailing most piteously. When
 they saw me the silly blubbering men began frisking round me as calves break
 out and gambol round their mothers, when they see them coming home to be milked
 after they have been feeding all day, and the homestead resounds with their
 lowing. They seemed as glad to see me as though they had got back to their own
 rugged Ithaca , where they had been
 born and bred. ‘Sir,’ said the affectionate creatures, ‘we are as glad to see
 you back as though we had got safe home to Ithaca ; but tell us all about the fate of our comrades.’ 

 
 "I spoke comfortingly to them and said, ‘We
 must draw our ship on to the land, and hide the ship's gear with all our
 property in some cave; then come with me all of you as fast as you can to
 Circe's house, where you will find your comrades eating and drinking in the
 midst of great abundance.’ 

 
 "On this the men would have come with me at
 once, but Eurylokhos tried to hold them back and said, ‘Alas, poor wretches
 that we are, what will become of us? Rush not on your ruin by going to the
 house of Circe, who will turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions, and we shall
 have to keep guard over her house. Remember how the Cyclops treated us when our comrades went
 inside his cave, and Odysseus with them. It was all through his sheer folly
 that those men lost their lives.’ 

 
 "When I heard him I was in two minds whether or
 no to draw the keen blade that hung by my sturdy thigh and cut his head off in
 spite of his being a near relation of my own; but the men interceded for him
 and said, ‘Sir, if it may so be, let this man stay here and mind the ship, but
 take the rest of us with you to Circe's house.’

"On this we all went inland, and Eurylokhos was
 not left behind after all, but came on too, for he was frightened by the severe
 reprimand that I had given him. 

 
 "Meanwhile Circe had been seeing that the men
 who had been left behind were washed and anointed with olive oil; she had also
 given them woolen cloaks and shirts, and when we came we found them all
 comfortably at dinner in her house. As soon as the men saw each other face to
 face and knew one another, they wept for joy and cried aloud till the whole
 palace rang again. Thereon Circe came up to me and said, ‘Odysseus, noble son
 of Laertes , tell your men to leave
 off crying; I know how much you have all of you suffered at sea, and how ill
 you have fared among cruel savages on the mainland, but that is over now, so
 stay here, and eat and drink till you are once more as strong and hearty as you
 were when you left Ithaca ; for at
 present you are weakened both in body and mind; you keep all the time thinking
 of the hardships - you have suffered during your travels, so that you have no
 more cheerfulness left in you.’ 

 
 "Thus did she speak and we assented. We stayed
 with Circe for a whole twelvemonth feasting upon an untold quantity both of
 meat and wine. But when the year had passed, and the seasons [ hôrai ] had turned round, and the waning of moons and
 the long days had begun, my men called me apart and said, ‘Sir, it is time you
 began to think about going home, if so be you are to be spared to see your
 house and native country at all.’ 

 
 "Thus did they speak and I assented. Thereon
 through the livelong day to the going down of the sun we feasted our fill on
 meat and wine, but when the sun went down and it came on dark the men laid
 themselves down to sleep in the covered cloisters. I, however, after I had got
 into bed with Circe, besought her by her knees, and the goddess listened to
 what I had got to say. ‘Circe,’ said I, ‘please keep the promise you made me
 about furthering me on my homeward voyage. I want to get back and so do my men,
 they are always pestering me with their complaints as soon as ever your back is
 turned.’

"And the goddess answered, ‘Odysseus, noble son
 of Laertes , you shall none of you
 stay here any longer if you do not want to, but there is another journey which
 you have got to take before you can sail homewards. You must go to the house of
 Hades and of dread Persephone to consult the ghost [ psukhê ] of the blind Theban seer [ mantis ] Teiresias whose mind [ phrenes ] is
 still in place within him. To him alone has Persephone left his consciousness
 [ noos ] even in death, but the other ghosts flit
 about aimlessly.’ 

 
 "I was dismayed when I heard this. I sat up in
 bed and wept, and would gladly have lived no longer to see the light of the
 sun, but presently when I was tired of weeping and tossing myself about, I
 said, ‘And who shall guide me upon this voyage - for the house of Hades is a
 port that no ship can reach.’ 

 
 "‘You will want no guide,’ she answered; ‘raise
 you mast, set your white sails, sit quite still, and the North Wind will blow
 you there of itself. When your ship has traversed the waters of Okeanos, you
 will reach the fertile shore of Persephone's country with its groves of tall
 poplars and willows that shed their fruit untimely; here beach your ship upon
 the shore of Okeanos, and go straight on to the dark abode of Hades. You will
 find it near the place where the rivers Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus (which is a
 branch of the river Styx) flow into Acheron, and you will see a rock near it,
 just where the two roaring rivers run into one another. 

 
 "‘When you have reached this spot, as I now
 tell you, dig a trench a cubit or so in length, breadth, and depth, and pour
 into it as a drink-offering to all the dead, first, honey mixed with milk, then
 wine, and in the third place water-sprinkling white barley meal over the whole.
 Moreover you must offer many prayers to the poor feeble ghosts, and promise
 them that when you get back to Ithaca 
 you will sacrifice a barren heifer to them, the best you have, and will load
 the pyre with good things. More particularly you must promise that Teiresias
 shall have a black sheep all to himself, the finest in all your flocks.

"‘When you shall have thus besought the ghosts
 with your prayers, offer them a ram and a black ewe, bending their heads
 towards Erebus; but yourself turn away from them as though you would make
 towards the river. On this, many dead men's ghosts [ psukhai ] will come to you, and you must tell your men to skin the
 two sheep that you have just killed, and offer them as a burnt sacrifice with
 prayers to Hades and to Persephone. Then draw your sword and sit there, so as
 to prevent any other poor ghost from coming near the spilt blood before
 Teiresias shall have answered your questions. The seer [ mantis ] will presently come to you, and will tell you about your
 voyage - what stages you are to make, and how you are to sail the sea so as to
 reach your home [ nostos ].’ 

 
 "It was day-break by the time she had done
 speaking, so she dressed me in my shirt and cloak. As for herself she threw a
 beautiful light gossamer fabric over her shoulders, fastening it with a golden
 girdle round her waist, and she covered her head with a mantle. Then I went
 about among the men everywhere all over the house, and spoke kindly to each of
 them man by man: ‘You must not lie sleeping here any longer,’ said I to them,
 ‘we must be going, for Circe has told me all about it.’ And this they did as I
 bade them. 

 
 "Even so, however, I did not get them away
 without misadventure. We had with us a certain youth named Elpenor, not very
 remarkable for sense or courage, who had got drunk and was lying on the
 house-top away from the rest of the men, to sleep off his liquor in the cool.
 When he heard the noise of the men bustling about, he jumped up on a sudden and
 forgot all about coming down by the main staircase, so he tumbled right off the
 roof and broke his neck, and his soul [ psukhê ] went
 down to the house of Hades. 

 
 "When I had got the men together I said to
 them, ‘You think you are about to start home again, but Circe has explained to
 me that instead of this, we have got to go to the house of Hades and Persephone
 to consult the ghost of the Theban seer Teiresias.’

"The men were broken-hearted as they heard me,
 and threw themselves on the ground groaning and tearing their hair, but they
 did not mend matters by crying. When we reached the sea shore, weeping and
 lamenting our fate, Circe brought the ram and the ewe, and we made them fast
 hard by the ship. She passed through the midst of us without our knowing it,
 for who can see the comings and goings of a god, if the god does not wish to be
 seen?

Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we
 drew our ship into the water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put
 the sheep on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind.
 Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew dead aft
 and stayed steadily with us keeping our sails all the time well filled; so we
 did whatever wanted doing to the ship's gear and let her go as the wind and
 helmsman headed her. All day long her sails were full as she held her course
 over the sea, but when the sun went down and darkness was over all the earth,
 we got into the deep waters of the river Okeanos, where lie the dêmos and city of the Cimmerians who live enshrouded
 in mist and darkness which the rays of the sun never pierce neither at his
 rising nor as he goes down again out of the heavens, but the poor wretches live
 in one long melancholy night. When we got there we beached the ship, took the
 sheep out of her, and went along by the waters of Okeanos till we came to the
 place of which Circe had told us. 

 
 "Here Perimedes and Eurylokhos held the victims,
 while I drew my sword and dug the trench a cubit each way. I made a
 drink-offering to all the dead, first with honey and milk, then with wine, and
 thirdly with water, and I sprinkled white barley meal over the whole, praying
 earnestly to the poor feckless ghosts, and promising them that when I got back
 to Ithaca I would sacrifice a barren
 heifer for them, the best I had, and would load the pyre with good things. I
 also particularly promised that Teiresias should have a black sheep to himself,
 the best in all my flocks. When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cut
 the throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon the
 ghosts [ psukhai ] came trooping up from Erebus -
 brides, young bachelors, old men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed
 in love, and brave men who had been killed in battle, with their armor still
 smirched with blood; they came from every quarter and flitted round the trench
 with a strange kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with fear. When I
 saw them coming I told the men to be quick and flay the carcasses of the two
 dead sheep and make burnt offerings of them, and at the same time to repeat
 prayers to Hades and to Persephone; but I sat where I was with my sword drawn
 and would not let the poor feckless ghosts come near the blood till Teiresias
 should have answered my questions. 

 
 "The first ghost [ psukhê ] that came was that of my comrade Elpenor, for he had not yet
 been laid beneath the earth. We had left his body unwaked and unburied in
 Circe's house, for other labor [ ponos ] was pressing
 us. I was very sorry for him, and cried when I saw him: ‘Elpenor,’ said I, ‘how
 did you come down here into this gloom and darkness? You have here on foot
 quicker than I have with my ship.’ 

 
 "‘Sir,’ he answered with a groan, ‘it was all
 bad luck of a daimôn , and my own unspeakable
 drunkenness. I was lying asleep on the top of Circe's house, and never thought
 of coming down again by the great staircase, but fell right off the roof and
 broke my neck, so my soul [ psukhê ] went down to the
 house of Hades. And now I beseech you by all those whom you have left behind
 you, though they are not here, by your wife, by the father who brought you up
 when you were a child, and by Telemakhos who is the one hope of your house, do
 what I shall now ask you. I know that when you leave this limbo you will again
 hold your ship for the Aeaean island. Do not go thence leaving me unwaked and
 unburied behind you, or I may bring the gods' anger upon you; but burn me with
 whatever armor I have, build a grave marker [ sêma ]
 for me on the sea shore that may tell people in days to come what a poor
 unlucky man I was, and plant over my grave the oar I used to row with when I
 was yet alive and with my messmates.’ And I said, ‘My poor man, I will do all
 that you have asked of me.’

"Thus, then, did we sit and hold sad talk with
 one another, I on the one side of the trench with my sword held over the blood,
 and the ghost of my comrade saying all this to me from the other side. Then
 came the ghost [ psukhê ] of my dead mother
 Antikleia, daughter to Autolykos. I had left her alive when I set out for
 Troy and was moved to tears when I
 saw her, but even so, for all my sorrow I would not let her come near the blood
 till I had asked my questions of Teiresias. 

 
 "Then came also the ghost [ psukhê ] of Theban Teiresias, with his golden scepter in his hand. He
 knew me and said, ‘Odysseus, noble son of Laertes , why, poor man, have you left the light of day and come
 down to visit the dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench and
 withdraw your sword that I may drink of the blood and answer your questions
 truly.’ 

 
 "So I drew back, and sheathed my sword, whereon
 when he had drank of the blood he began with his prophecy [ mantis ]. 

 
 "You want to know,’ said he, ‘about your return
 home [ nostos ], but heaven will make this hard for
 you. I do not think that you will escape the eye of Poseidon, who still nurses
 his bitter grudge against you for having blinded his son. Still, after much
 suffering you may get home if you can restrain yourself and your companions
 when your ship reaches the Thrinacian island, where you will find the sheep and
 cattle belonging to the sun, who sees and gives ear to everything. If you leave
 these flocks unharmed and think of nothing but of getting home [ nostos ], you may yet after much hardship reach
 Ithaca ; but if you harm them, then
 I forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and of your men. Even
 though you may yourself escape, you will return in bad plight after losing all
 your men, in another man's ship, and you will find trouble in your house, which
 will be overrun by high-handed people, who are devouring your substance under
 the pretext of paying court and making presents to your wife.

"‘When you get home you will take your revenge
 on these suitors; and after you have killed them by force [ biê ] or fraud in your own house, you must take a well-made oar and
 carry it on and on, till you come to a country where the people have never
 heard of the sea and do not even mix salt with their food, nor do they know
 anything about ships, and oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you
 this certain token [ sêma ] which cannot escape your
 notice. A wayfarer will meet you and will say it must be a winnowing shovel
 that you have got upon your shoulder; on this you must fix the oar in the
 ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Poseidon. Then go home and
 offer hecatombs to the gods in heaven one after the other. As for yourself,
 death shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very gently
 when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people shall be
 prosperous [ olbios ]. All that I have said will come
 true.’ 

 
 "‘This,’ I answered, ‘must be as it may please
 heaven, but tell me and tell me true, I see my poor mother's ghost [ psukhê ] close by us; she is sitting by the blood
 without saying a word, and though I am her own son she does not remember me and
 speak to me; tell me, Sir, how I can make her know me.’ 

 
 "‘That,’ said he, ‘I can soon do. Any ghost
 that you let taste of the blood will talk with you like a reasonable being, but
 if you do not let them have any blood they will go away again.’ 

 
 "On this the ghost [ psukhê ] of Teiresias went back to the house of Hades, for his
 prophecies had now been spoken, but I sat still where I was until my mother
 came up and tasted the blood. Then she knew me at once and spoke fondly to me,
 saying, ‘My son, how did you come down to this abode of darkness while you are
 still alive? It is a hard thing for the living to see these places, for between
 us and them there are great and terrible waters, and there is Okeanos, which no
 man can cross on foot, but he must have a good ship to take him. Are you all
 this time trying to find your way home from Troy , and have you never yet got back to Ithaca nor seen your wife in your own
 house?’

"‘Mother,’ said I, ‘I was forced to come here
 to consult the ghost [ psukhê ] of the Theban seer
 Teiresias. I have never yet been near the Achaean land nor set foot on my
 native country, and I have had nothing but one long series of misfortunes from
 the very first day that I set out with Agamemnon for Ilion , the land of noble steeds, to fight the
 Trojans. But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die? Did you have a
 long illness, or did heaven grant you a gentle easy passage to eternity? Tell
 me also about my father, and the son whom I left behind me; is my property
 still in their hands, or has some one else got hold of it, who thinks that I
 shall not return to claim it? Tell me again what my wife intends doing, and in
 what mind [ noos ] she is; does she live with my son
 and guard my estate securely, or has she made the best match she could and
 married again?’ 

 
 "My mother answered, ‘Your wife still remains
 in your house, but she is in great distress of mind and spends her whole time
 in tears both night and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine
 property, and Telemakhos still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to
 entertain largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a
 magistrate, and how every one invites him; your father remains at his old place
 in the country and never goes near the town. He has no comfortable bed nor
 bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in front of the fire with the men
 and goes about all in rags, but in summer, when the warm weather comes on
 again, he lies out in the vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown anyhow upon
 the ground, in grief [ akhos ]. He is in continual
 distress [ penthos ] about your never having achieved
 a homecoming [ nostos ], and suffers more and more as
 he grows older. As for my own end it was in this wise: heaven did not take me
 swiftly and painlessly in my own house, nor was I attacked by any illness such
 as those that generally wear people out and kill them, but my longing to know
 what you were doing and the force of my affection for you - this it was that
 was the death of me.’ 

 
 "Then I tried to find some way of embracing my
 mother's ghost [ psukhê ]. Thrice I sprang towards
 her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but each time she flitted from my
 embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and being touched to the quick I said to
 her, ‘Mother, why do you not stay still when I would embrace you? If we could
 throw our arms around one another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of
 our sorrows [ akhos ] even in the house of Hades;
 does Persephone want to lay a still further load of grief upon me by mocking me
 with a phantom only?’ 

 
 "‘My son,’ she answered, ‘most ill-fated of all
 humankind, it is not Persephone that is beguiling you, but all people are like
 this when they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones
 together; these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has
 left the body, and the soul [ psukhê ] flits away as
 though it were a dream. Now, however, go back to the light of day as soon as
 you can, and note all these things that you may tell them to your wife
 hereafter.’

"Thus did we converse, and anon Persephone sent
 up the ghosts of the wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They
 gathered in crowds about the blood, and I considered how I might question them
 severally. In the end I deemed that it would be best to draw the keen blade
 that hung by my sturdy thigh, and keep them from all drinking the blood at
 once. So they came up one after the other, and each one as I questioned her
 told me her race and lineage. 

 
 "The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of
 Salmoneus and wife of Cretheus the son of Aeolus. She fell in love with the
 river Enipeus who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once
 when she was taking a walk by his side as usual, Poseidon, disguised as her
 lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge seething wave arched
 itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and god, whereon he loosed
 her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber. When the god had accomplished
 the deed of love, he took her hand in his own and said, ‘Tyro, rejoice in all
 good will; the embraces of the gods are not fruitless, and you will have fine
 twins about this time twelve months. Take great care of them. I am Poseidon, so
 now go home, but hold your tongue and do not tell any one.’ 

 
 "Then he dived under the sea, and she in due
 course bore Pelias and Neleus, who both of them served Zeus with all their
 might. Pelias was a great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolkos, but the other
 lived in Pylos . The rest of her
 children were by Cretheus, namely, Aison, Pheres, and Amythaon, who was a
 mighty warrior and charioteer. 

 
 "Next to her I saw Antiope, daughter to Asopos,
 who could boast of having slept in the arms of even Zeus himself, and who bore
 him two sons Amphion and Zethos. These founded Thebes with its seven gates, and built a wall all round it; for
 strong though they were they could not hold Thebes till they had walled it.

"Then I saw Alkmene, the wife of Amphitryon,
 who also bore to Zeus indomitable Herakles; and Megara who was daughter to
 great King Kreon, and married the redoubtable son of Amphitryon. 

 
 "I also saw fair Epikaste mother of king
 Oedipus whose awful lot it was to marry her own son without suspecting it in
 her noos . He married her after having killed his
 father, but the gods proclaimed the whole story to the world; whereon he
 remained king of Thebes , in great
 grief for the spite the gods had borne him; but Epikaste went to the house of
 the mighty gatekeeper Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the avenging
 spirits haunted him as for an outraged mother - to his ruing bitterly
 thereafter. 

 
 "Then I saw Chloris, whom Neleus married for
 her beauty, having given priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter
 to Amphion son of Iasos and king of
 Minyan Orkhomenos, and was Queen in Pylos . She bore Nestor, Chromios, and Periklymenos, and she
 also bore that marvelously lovely woman Pero, who was wooed by all the country
 round; but Neleus would only give her to him who should raid the cattle of
 Iphikles from the grazing grounds of Phylake, and this was a hard task. The
 only man who would undertake to raid them was a certain excellent seer [ mantis ], but the will of heaven was against him, for
 the rangers of the cattle caught him and put him in prison; nevertheless when a
 full year had passed and the same season [ hôra ]
 came round again, Iphikles set him at liberty, after he had expounded all the
 oracles of heaven. Thus, then, was the will of Zeus accomplished. 

 
 "And I saw Leda the wife of Tyndarus, who bore
 him two famous sons, Castor breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer.
 Both these heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive, for
 by a special dispensation of Zeus, they die and come to life again, each one of
 them every other day throughout all time, and they have the rank of gods.

"After her I saw Iphimedeia wife of Aloeus who
 boasted the embrace of Poseidon. She bore two sons Otus and Ephialtes, but both
 were short lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this
 world, and the best looking, Orion only excepted; for at nine years old they
 were nine fathoms high, and measured nine cubits round the chest. They
 threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus , and tried to set Mount Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus , and Mount Pelion on the top of
 Ossa, that they might scale heaven itself, and they would have done it too if
 they had been grown up, but Apollo, son of Leto, killed both of them, before
 they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their cheeks or chin. 

 
 "Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair
 Ariadne daughter of the magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from
 Crete to Athens , but he did not enjoy her, for
 before he could do so Artemis killed her in the island of Dia on account of
 what Bacchus had said against her. 

 
 "I also saw Maira and Klymene and hateful Eriphyle, who sold her own
 husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name every single
 one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw, and it is time [ hôra ] for me to go to bed, either on board ship with
 my crew, or here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it." 

 
 Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them
 enthralled and speechless throughout the covered room. Then Arete said to
 them:

"What do you think of this man, O Phaeacians?
 Is he not tall and good looking, and is he not clever? True, he is my own
 guest, but all of you share in the distinction. Do not be in a hurry to send
 him away, nor be withholding in the presents you make to one who is in such
 great need, for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance." 

 
 Then spoke the aged hero Echeneus who was one
 of the oldest men among them, "My friends," said he, "what our august queen has
 just said to us is both reasonable and to the purpose, therefore be persuaded
 by it; but the decision whether in word or deed rests ultimately with King
 Alkinoos." 

 
 "The thing shall be done," exclaimed Alkinoos,
 "as surely as I still live and reign over the Phaeacians. Our guest is indeed
 very anxious to get home [ nostos ], still we must
 persuade him to remain with us until tomorrow, by which time I shall be able to
 get together the whole sum that I mean to give him. As regards his escort it
 will be a matter for you all, and mine above all others as the chief person in
 the dêmos ." 

 
 And Odysseus answered, "King Alkinoos, if you
 were to bid me to stay here for a whole twelve months, and then speed me on my
 way, loaded with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly and it would
 redound greatly to my advantage, for I should return fuller-handed to my own
 people, and should thus be more respected and beloved by all who see me when I
 get back to Ithaca ."

"Odysseus," replied Alkinoos, "not one of us
 who sees you has any idea that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there
 are many people going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very
 hard to see through them, but there is a style about your language which
 assures me of your good disposition. Moreover you have told the story of your
 own misfortunes, and those of the Argives, as though you were a practiced bard;
 but tell me, and tell me true, whether you saw any of the mighty heroes who
 went to Troy at the same time with
 yourself, and perished there. The evenings are still at their longest, and it
 is not yet bed time [ hôra ] - go on, therefore, with
 your divine story, for I could stay here listening till tomorrow morning, so
 long as you will continue to tell us of your adventures." 

 
 "Alkinoos," answered Odysseus, "there is a time
 [ hôra ] for making speeches, and a time [ hôra ] for going to bed; nevertheless, since you so
 desire, I will not refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of those of
 my comrades who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished on their
 return [ nostos ], through the treachery of a wicked
 woman. 

 
 "When Persephone had dismissed the female
 ghosts [ psukhai ] in all directions, the ghost
 [ psukhê ] of Agamemnon son of Atreus came sadly
 up to me, surrounded by those who had perished with him in the house of
 Aigisthos. As soon as he had tasted the blood he knew me, and weeping bitterly
 stretched out his arms towards me to embrace me; but he had no strength nor
 substance any more, and I too wept and pitied him as I beheld him. ‘How did you
 come by your death,’ said I, ‘King Agamemnon? Did Poseidon raise his winds and
 waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies make an end of you
 on the mainland when you were cattle-lifting or sheep-stealing, or while they
 were fighting in defense of their wives and city?’ 

 
 "‘Odysseus,’ he answered, ‘noble son of
 Laertes , I was not lost at sea
 in any storm of Poseidon's raising, nor did my foes dispatch me upon the
 mainland, but Aigisthos and my wicked wife were the death of me between them.
 He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most miserably as
 though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house, while all around me my comrades
 were slain like sheep or pigs for the wedding breakfast, or dinner-party, or
 gourmet feast of some great nobleman. You must have seen numbers of men killed
 either in a general engagement, or in single combat, but you never saw anything
 so truly pitiable as the way in which we fell in that room, with the
 mixing-bowl and the loaded tables lying all about, and the ground reeking with
 our blood. I heard Priam's daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her
 close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword in my body, and
 raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderess, but she slipped away from me;
 she would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was dying, for there is
 nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as a woman when she has fallen
 into such guilt as hers was. Fancy murdering her own husband! I thought I was
 going to be welcomed home by my children and my servants, but her abominable
 crime has brought disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after - even
 on the good ones.’

"And I said, ‘In truth Zeus has hated the house
 of Atreus from first to last in the matter of their women's counsels. See how
 many of us fell for Helen's sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra hatched
 mischief against you too during your absence.’ 

 
 "‘Be sure, therefore,’ continued Agamemnon,
 ‘and not be too friendly even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you
 know perfectly well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel
 about the rest. Not that your wife, Odysseus, is likely to murder you, for
 Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature. We left her a
 young bride with an infant at her breast when we set out for Troy . This child no doubt is now grown up
 happily [ olbios ] to man's estate, and he and his
 father will have a joyful meeting and embrace one another as it is right they
 should do, whereas my wicked wife did not even allow me the happiness of
 looking upon my son, but killed me ere I could do so. Furthermore I say - and
 lay my saying to your heart - do not tell people when you are bringing your
 ship to Ithaca , but steal a march upon
 them, for after all this there is no trusting women. But now tell me, and tell
 me true, can you give me any news of my son Orestes? Is he in Orkhomenos , or at Pylos , or is he at Sparta with Menelaos - for I presume that
 he is still living.’ 

 
 "And I said, ‘Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I
 do not know whether your son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when
 one does not know.’ 

 
 "As we two sat weeping and talking thus sadly
 with one another the ghost [ psukhê ] of Achilles
 came up to us with Patroklos, Antilokhos, and Ajax who was the finest and
 goodliest man of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus. The psukhê of the fleet descendant of Aiakos knew me and
 spoke piteously, saying, ‘Odysseus, noble son of Laertes , what deed of daring will you
 undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades among us silly
 dead, who are but the ghosts of them that can labor no more?’

"And I said, ‘Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost
 champion of the Achaeans, I came to consult Teiresias, and see if he could
 advise me about my return home to Ithaca , for I have never yet been able to get near the Achaean
 land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have been in trouble all the time.
 As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet so fortunate as you have been, nor
 ever will be, for you were adored by all us Argives as long as you were alive,
 and now that you are here you are a great prince among the dead. Do not,
 therefore, take it so much to heart even if you are dead.’ 

 
 "‘Say not a word,’ he answered, ‘in death's
 favor; I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above
 ground than king of kings among the dead. But give me news about son; is he
 gone to the wars and will he be a great warrior, or is this not so? Tell me
 also if you have heard anything about my father Peleus - does he still rule
 among the Myrmidons, or do they show him no respect throughout Hellas and Phthia now that he is old and his limbs fail him? Could I but
 stand by his side, in the light of day, with the same strength that I had when
 I killed the bravest of our foes upon the plain of Troy - could I but be as I then was and go
 even for a short time to my father's house, any one who tried to do him
 violence or supersede him would soon feel my strength and invincible
 hands.’ 

 
 "‘I have heard nothing,’ I answered, ‘of
 Peleus, but I can tell you the truth [ alêtheia ]
 about your son Neoptolemos, for I took him in my own ship from Skyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of
 war before Troy he was always first
 to speak, and his judgment was unerring. Nestor and I were the only two who
 could surpass him; and when it came to fighting on the plain of Troy , he would never remain with the body of
 his men, but would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valor. Many a
 man did he kill in battle - I cannot name every single one of those whom he
 slew while fighting on the side of the Argives, but will only say how he killed
 that valiant hero Eurypylos son of Telephus, who was the handsomest man I ever
 saw except Memnon; many others also of the Ceteians fell around him by reason
 of a woman's bribes. Moreover, when all the bravest of the Argives went inside
 the horse that Epeios had made, and it was left to me to settle when we should
 either open the door of our ambuscade, or close it, though all the other
 leaders and chief men among the Danaans were drying their eyes and quaking in
 every limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from his cheek; he
 was all the time urging me to break out from the horse - grasping the handle of
 his sword and his bronze-shod spear, and breathing fury against the foe. Yet
 when we had sacked the city of Priam he got his handsome share of the prize
 wealth and went on board (such is the fortune of war) without a wound upon him,
 neither from a thrown spear nor in close combat, for the rage of Ares is a
 matter of great chance.’ 

 
 "When I had told him this, the ghost [ psukhê ] of Achilles strode off across a meadow full of
 asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning the prowess of his son.

"The ghosts [ psukhai ] of other dead men stood near me and told me each his own
 melancholy tale; but the psukhê of Ajax son of
 Telamon alone held aloof - still angry with me for having won the cause in our
 dispute about the armor of Achilles. Thetis had offered it as a prize, but the
 Trojan prisoners and Athena were the judges. Would that I had never gained the
 day in such a contest [ athlos ], for it cost the
 life of Ajax, who was foremost of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus,
 alike in stature and prowess. 

 
 "When I saw him I tried to pacify him and said,
 ‘Ajax, will you not forget and forgive even in death, but must the judgment
 about that hateful armor still rankle with you? It cost us Argives dear enough
 to lose such a tower of strength as you were to us. We mourned you as much as
 we mourned Achilles son of Peleus himself, nor can the blame [ aitios ] be laid on anything but on the spite which
 Zeus bore against the Danaans, for it was this that made him counsel your
 destruction - come here, therefore, bring your proud spirit into subjection,
 and hear what I can tell you.’ 

 
 "He would not answer, but turned away to Erebus
 and to the other ghosts [ psukhai ]; nevertheless, I
 should have made him talk to me in spite of his being so angry, or I should
 have gone talking to him, only that there were still others among the dead whom
 I desired to see. 

 
 "Then I saw Minos son of Zeus with his golden
 scepter in his hand sitting in judgment on the dead, and the ghosts were
 gathered sitting and standing round him in the spacious house of Hades, to
 learn his sentences [ dikai ] upon them.

"After him I saw huge Orion in a meadow full of
 asphodel driving the ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the
 mountains, and he had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and
 ever. 

 
 "And I saw Tityus son of Gaia stretched upon
 the plain and covering some nine acres of ground. Two vultures on either side
 of him were digging their beaks into his liver, and he kept on trying to beat
 them off with his hands, but could not; for he had violated Zeus’ mistress Leto
 as she was going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho . 

 
 "I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, who
 stood in a lake that reached his chin; he was dying to quench his thirst, but
 could never reach the water, for whenever the poor creature stooped to drink,
 it dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry ground - parched by
 a daimôn . There were tall trees, moreover, that
 shed their fruit over his head - pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet figs and
 juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature stretched out his hand to take
 some, the wind tossed the branches back again to the clouds. 

 
 "And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising
 his prodigious stone with both his hands. With hands and feet he tried to roll
 it up to the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over on
 to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless stone
 would come thundering down again on to the plain. Then he would begin trying to
 push it up hill again, and the sweat ran off him and the steam rose after
 him.

"After him I saw mighty Herakles, but it was
 his phantom only, for he is feasting ever with the immortal gods, and has
 lovely Hebe to wife, who is daughter of Zeus and Hera. The ghosts were
 screaming round him like scared birds flying in all directions. He looked black
 as night with his bare bow in his hands and his arrow on the string, glaring
 around as though ever on the point of taking aim. About his breast there was a
 wondrous golden belt adorned in the most marvelous fashion with bears, wild
 boars, and lions with gleaming eyes; there was also war, battle, and death. The
 man who made that belt, do what he might, would never be able to make another
 like it. Herakles knew me at once when he saw me, and spoke piteously, saying,
 ‘My poor Odysseus, noble son of Laertes, are you too leading the same sorry
 kind of life that I did when I was above ground? I was son of Zeus, but I went
 through an infinity of suffering, for I became bondsman to one who was far
 beneath me - a lowly man who set me all manner of labors [ athloi ]. He once sent me here to fetch the hell-hound - for he did
 not think he could find any athlos harder for me
 than this, but I got the hound out of Hades and brought him to him, for Hermes
 and Athena helped me.’ 

 
 "On this Herakles went down again into the
 house of Hades, but I stayed where I was in case some other of the mighty dead
 should come to me. And I should have seen still other of them that are gone
 before, whom I would fain have seen - Theseus and Peirithoos glorious children
 of the gods, but so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered such
 appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest Persephone should send up from
 the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon. On this I hastened
 back to my ship and ordered my men to go on board at once and loose the
 hawsers; so they embarked and took their places, whereon the ship went down the
 stream of the river Okeanos. We had to row at first, but presently a fair wind
 sprang up.

"After we were clear of the river Okeanos, and
 had got out into the open sea, we went on till we reached the Aeaean island
 where there is dawn and sunrise as in other places. We then drew our ship on to
 the sands and disembarked onto the shore, where we went to sleep and waited
 till day should break. 

 
 "Then, when the child of morning, rosy-fingered
 Dawn, appeared, I sent some men to Circe's house to fetch the body of Elpenor.
 We cut firewood from a wood where the headland jutted out into the sea, and
 after we had wept over him and lamented him we performed his funeral rites.
 When his body and armor had been burned to ashes, we raised a cairn, set a
 stone over it, and at the top of the cairn we fixed the oar that he had been
 used to row with. 

 
 "While we were doing all this, Circe, who knew
 that we had got back from the house of Hades, dressed herself and came to us as
 fast as she could; and her maid servants came with her bringing us bread, meat,
 and wine. Then she stood in the midst of us and said, ‘You have done a bold
 thing in going down alive to the house of Hades, and you will have died twice,
 to other people's once; now, then, stay here for the rest of the day, feast
 your fill, and go on with your voyage at daybreak tomorrow morning. In the
 meantime I will tell Odysseus about your course, and will explain everything to
 him so as to prevent your suffering from misadventure either by land or
 sea.’ 

 
 "We agreed to do as she had said, and feasted
 through the livelong day to the going down of the sun, but when the sun had set
 and it came on dark, the men laid themselves down to sleep by the stern cables
 of the ship. Then Circe took me by the hand and bade me be seated away from the
 others, while she reclined by my side and asked me all about our
 adventures.

"‘So far so good,’ said she, when I had ended my
 story, ‘and now pay attention to what I am about to tell you - heaven itself,
 indeed, will recall it to your recollection. First you will come to the Sirens
 who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and
 hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him
 home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the
 sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all
 around, with the flesh still rotting off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by,
 and stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may hear; but if you like
 you can listen yourself, for you may get the men to bind you as you stand
 upright on a cross-piece half way up the mast, and they must lash the rope's
 ends to the mast itself, that you may have the pleasure of listening. If you
 beg and pray the men to unloose you, then they must bind you faster. 

 
 "‘When your crew have taken you past these
 Sirens, I cannot give you coherent directions as to which of two courses you
 are to take; I will lay the two alternatives before you, and you must consider
 them for yourself. On the one hand there are some overhanging rocks against
 which the seething deep waves of Amphitrite beat with terrific fury; the
 blessed gods call these rocks the Wanderers. Here not even a bird may pass, no,
 not even the timid doves that bring ambrosia to Father Zeus, but the sheer rock
 always carries off one of them, and Father Zeus has to send another to make up
 their number; no ship that ever yet came to these rocks has got away again, but
 the waves and whirlwinds of fire are freighted with wreckage and with the
 bodies of dead men. The only vessel that ever sailed and got through, was the
 famous Argo on her way from the house
 of Aietes, and she too would have gone against these great rocks, only that
 Hera piloted her past them for the love she bore to Jason. 

 
 "‘Of these two rocks the one reaches heaven and
 its peak is lost in a dark cloud. This never leaves it, so that the top is
 never clear not even in summer and early autumn. No man though he had twenty
 hands and twenty feet could get a foothold on it and climb it, for it runs
 sheer up, as smooth as though it had been polished. In the middle of it there
 is a large cavern, looking West and turned towards Erebus; you must take your
 ship this way, but the cave is so high up that not even the stoutest archer
 could send an arrow into it. Inside it Scylla sits and yelps with a voice that
 you might take to be that of a young hound, but in truth she is a dreadful
 monster and no one - not even a god - could face her without being
 terror-struck. She has twelve misshapen feet, and six necks of the most
 prodigious length; and at the end of each neck she has a frightful head with
 three rows of teeth in each, all set very close together, so that they would
 crunch any one to death in a moment, and she sits deep within her shady cell
 thrusting out her heads and peering all round the rock, fishing for dolphins or
 dogfish or any larger monster that she can catch, of the thousands with which
 Amphitrite teems. No ship ever yet got past her without losing some men, for
 she shoots out all her heads at once, and carries off a man in each mouth. 

 
 "‘You will find the other rocks lie lower, but
 they are so close together that there is not more than a bowshot between them.
 [A large fig tree in full leaf grows upon it], and under it lies the sucking
 whirlpool of Charybdis. Three times in the day does she vomit forth her waters,
 and three times she sucks them down again; see that you be not there when she
 is sucking, for if you are, Poseidon himself could not save you; you must hug
 the Scylla side and drive ship by as fast as you can, for you had better lose
 six men than your whole crew.’

"‘Is there no way,’ said I, ‘of escaping
 Charybdis, and at the same time keeping Scylla off when she is trying to harm
 my men?’ 

 
 "‘You dare-devil,’ replied the goddess, ‘you
 are always wanting to fight somebody or something and to undergo an ordeal
 [ ponos ]; you will not let yourself be beaten
 even by the immortals. For Scylla is not mortal; moreover she is savage,
 extreme, rude, cruel and invincible. There is no help for it; your best chance
 will be to get by her as fast as ever you can, for if you dawdle about her rock
 while you are putting on your armor, she may catch you with a second cast of
 her six heads, and snap up another half dozen of your men; so drive your ship
 past her at full speed, and roar out lustily to Krataiis who is Scylla's dam,
 bad luck to her; she will then stop her from making a second raid upon you. 

 
 "‘You will now come to the Thrinacian island,
 and here you will see many herds of cattle and flocks of sheep belonging to the
 sun-god - seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, with fifty head in
 each flock. They do not breed, nor do they become fewer in number, and they are
 tended by the goddesses Phaethousa and Lampetie, who are children of the
 sun-god Hyperion by Neaira. Their mother when she had borne them and had done
 suckling them sent them to the Thrinacian island, which was a long way off, to
 live there and look after their father's flocks and herds. If you leave these
 flocks unharmed, and think of nothing but homecoming [ nostos ], you may yet after much hardship reach Ithaca ; but if you harm them, then I forewarn
 you of the destruction both of your ship and of your comrades; and even though
 you may yourself escape, you will return late, in bad plight, after losing all
 your men.’ 

 
 "Here she ended, and dawn enthroned in gold
 began to show in heaven, whereon she returned inland. I then went on board and
 told my men to loose the ship from her moorings; so they at once got into her,
 took their places, and began to smite the gray sea with their oars. Presently
 the great and cunning goddess Circe befriended us with a fair wind that blew
 dead aft, and stayed steadily with us, keeping our sails well filled, so we did
 whatever wanted doing to the ship's gear, and let her go as wind and helmsman
 headed her.

"Then, being much troubled in mind, I said to
 my men, ‘My friends, it is not right that one or two of us alone should know
 the prophecies that Circe has made me, I will therefore tell you about them, so
 that whether we live or die we may do so with our eyes open. First she said we
 were to keep clear of the Sirens, who sit and sing most beautifully in a field
 of flowers; but she said I might hear them myself so long as no one else did.
 Therefore, take me and bind me to the crosspiece half way up the mast; bind me
 as I stand upright, with a bond so fast that I cannot possibly break away, and
 lash the rope's ends to the mast itself. If I beg and pray you to set me free,
 then bind me more tightly still.’ 

 
 "I had hardly finished telling everything to
 the men before we reached the island of the two Sirens, for the wind had been
 very favorable. Then all of a sudden it fell dead calm; there was not a breath
 of wind nor a ripple upon the water, so the men furled the sails and stowed
 them; then taking to their oars they whitened the water with the foam they
 raised in rowing. Meanwhile I look a large wheel of wax and cut it up small
 with my sword. Then I kneaded the wax in my strong hands till it became soft,
 which it soon did between the kneading and the rays of the sun-god son of
 Hyperion. Then I stopped the ears of all my men, and they bound me hands and
 feet to the mast as I stood upright on the crosspiece; but they went on rowing
 themselves. When we had got within earshot of the land, and the ship was going
 at a good rate, the Sirens saw that we were getting in shore and began with
 their singing. 

 
 "‘Come here,’ they sang, ‘renowned Odysseus,
 honor to the Achaean name, and listen to our two voices. No one ever sailed
 past us without staying to hear the enchanting sweetness of our song - and he
 who listens will go on his way not only charmed, but wiser, for we know all the
 ills that the gods laid upon the Argives and Trojans before Troy , and can tell you everything that is
 going to happen over the whole world.’ 

 
 "They sang these words most musically, and as I
 longed to hear them further I made by frowning to my men that they should set
 me free; but they quickened their stroke, and Eurylokhos and Perimedes bound me
 with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the Sirens’ voices.
 Then my men took the wax from their ears and unbound me.

"Immediately after we had got past the island I
 saw a great wave from which spray was rising, and I heard a loud roaring sound.
 The men were so frightened that they loosed hold of their oars, for the whole
 sea resounded with the rushing of the waters, but the ship stayed where it was,
 for the men had left off rowing. I went round, therefore, and exhorted them man
 by man not to lose heart. 

 
 "‘My friends,’ said I, ‘this is not the first
 time that we have been in danger, and we are in nothing like so bad a case as
 when the Cyclops shut us up in his
 cave by forceful violence [ biê ]; nevertheless, my
 courage [ aretê ] and wise counsel [ noos ] saved us then, and we shall live to look back on
 all this as well. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say, trust in Zeus and row on with might and main. As for
 you, coxswain, these are your orders; attend to them, for the ship is in your
 hands; turn her head away from these steaming rapids and hug the rock, or she
 will give you the slip and be over yonder before you know where you are, and
 you will be the death of us.’ 

 
 "So they did as I told them; but I said nothing
 about the awful monster Scylla, for I knew the men would not go on rowing if I
 did, but would huddle together in the hold. In one thing only did I disobey
 Circe's strict instructions - I put on my armor. Then seizing two strong spears
 I took my stand on the ship's bows, for it was there that I expected first to
 see the monster of the rock, who was to do my men so much harm; but I could not
 make her out anywhere, though I strained my eyes with looking the gloomy rock
 all over and over. 

 
 "Then we entered the Straits in great fear of
 mind, for on the one hand was Scylla, and on the other dread Charybdis kept sucking up the salt water. As
 she vomited it up, it was like the water in a cauldron when it is boiling over
 upon a great fire, and the spray reached the top of the rocks on either side.
 When she began to suck again, we could see the water all inside whirling round
 and round, and it made a deafening sound as it broke against the rocks. We
 could see the bottom of the whirlpool all black with sand and mud, and the men
 were at their wit's ends for fear. While we were taken up with this, and were
 expecting each moment to be our last, Scylla pounced down suddenly upon us and
 violently [ biê ] snatched up
 my six best men. I was looking at once after both ship and men, and in a moment
 I saw their hands and feet ever so high above me, struggling in the air as
 Scylla was carrying them off, and I heard them call out my name in one last
 despairing cry. As a fisherman, seated, spear in hand, upon some jutting rock
 throws bait into the water to deceive the poor little fishes, and spears them
 with the ox's horn with which his spear is shod, throwing them gasping on to
 the land as he catches them one by one - even so did Scylla land these panting
 creatures on her rock and munch them up at the mouth of her den, while they
 screamed and stretched out their hands to me in their mortal agony. This was
 the most sickening sight that I saw throughout all my voyages.

"When we had passed the Wandering rocks, with
 Scylla and terrible Charybdis , we
 reached the noble island of the sun-god, where were the goodly cattle and sheep
 belonging to the sun Hyperion. While still at sea in my ship I could bear the
 cattle lowing as they came home to the yards, and the sheep bleating. Then I
 remembered what the blind Theban seer [ mantis ]
 Teiresias had told me, and how carefully Aeaean Circe had warned me to shun the
 island of the blessed sun-god. So being much troubled I said to the men, ‘My
 men, I know you are hard pressed, but listen while I tell you the prophecy that
 Teiresias made me, and how carefully Aeaean Circe warned me to shun the island
 of the blessed sun-god, for it was here, she said, that our worst danger would
 lie. Head the ship, therefore, away from the island.’ 

 
 "The men were in despair at this, and
 Eurylokhos at once gave me an insolent answer. ‘Odysseus,’ said he, ‘you are
 cruel; you are very strong yourself and never get worn out; you seem to be made
 of iron, and now, though your men are exhausted with toil and want of sleep,
 you will not let them land and cook themselves a good supper upon this island,
 but bid them put out to sea and go faring fruitlessly on through the watches of
 the fleeing night. It is by night that the winds blow hardest and do so much
 damage; how can we escape should one of those sudden squalls spring up from
 South West or West, which so often wreck a vessel when our lords the gods are
 unpropitious? Now, therefore, let us obey the call of night and prepare our
 supper here hard by the ship; tomorrow morning we will go on board again and
 put out to sea.’ 

 
 "Thus spoke Eurylokhos, and the men approved
 his words. I saw that a daimôn meant us mischief
 and said, ‘You force me to yield, for you are many against one, but at any rate
 each one of you must take his solemn oath that if he meet with a herd of cattle
 or a large flock of sheep, he will not be so mad as to kill a single head of
 either, but will be satisfied with the food that Circe has given us.’ 

 
 "They all swore as I bade them, and when they
 had completed their oath we made the ship fast in a harbor that was near a
 stream of fresh water, and the men went ashore and cooked their suppers. As
 soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, they began talking about their
 poor comrades whom Scylla had snatched up and eaten; this set them weeping and
 they went on crying till they fell off into a sound sleep.

"In the third watch of the night when the stars
 had shifted their places, Zeus raised a great gale of wind that flew a gale so
 that land and sea were covered with thick clouds, and night sprang forth out of
 the heavens. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, we
 brought the ship to land and drew her into a cave wherein the sea-nymphs hold
 their courts and dances [ khoros ], and I called the
 men together in council. 

 
 "‘My friends,’ said I, ‘we have meat and drink
 in the ship, let us mind, therefore, and not touch the cattle, or we shall
 suffer for it; for these cattle and sheep belong to the mighty sun, who sees
 and gives ear to everything. And again they promised that they would obey. 

 
 "For a whole month the wind blew steadily from
 the South, and there was no other wind, but only South and East. As long as
 grain and wine held out the men did not touch the cattle when they were hungry;
 when, however, they had eaten all there was in the ship, they were forced to go
 further afield, with hook and line, catching birds, and taking whatever they
 could lay their hands on; for they were starving. One day, therefore, I went up
 inland that I might pray heaven to show me some means of getting away. When I
 had gone far enough to be clear of all my men, and had found a place that was
 well sheltered from the wind, I washed my hands and prayed to all the gods in
 Olympus till by and by they sent me
 off into a sweet sleep. 

 
 "Meanwhile Eurylokhos had been giving evil
 counsel to the men, ‘Listen to me,’ said he, ‘my poor comrades. All deaths are
 bad enough but there is none so bad as famine. Why should not we drive in the
 best of these cows and offer them in sacrifice to the immortal gods? If we ever
 get back to Ithaca , we can build a
 fine temple to the sun-god and enrich it with every kind of ornament; if,
 however, he is determined to sink our ship out of revenge for these horned
 cattle, and the other gods are of the same mind, I for one would rather drink
 salt water once for all and have done with it, than be starved to death by
 inches in such a desert island as this is.’

"Thus spoke Eurylokhos, and the men approved
 his words. Now the cattle, so fair and goodly, were feeding not far from the
 ship; the men, therefore drove in the best of them, and they all stood round
 them saying their prayers, and using young oak-shoots instead of barley-meal,
 for there was no barley left. When they had done praying they killed the cows
 and dressed their carcasses; they cut out the thigh bones, wrapped them round
 in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of raw meat on top of them. They had
 no wine with which to make drink-offerings over the sacrifice while it was
 cooking, so they kept pouring on a little water from time to time while the
 inward meats were being grilled; then, when the thigh bones were burned and
 they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up small and put the pieces
 upon the spits. 

 
 "By this time my deep sleep had left me, and I
 turned back to the ship and to the sea shore. As I drew near I began to smell
 hot roast meat, so I groaned out a prayer to the immortal gods. ‘Father Zeus,’
 I exclaimed, ‘and all you other gods who live in everlasting bliss, you have
 done me a cruel mischief [ atê ] by the sleep into
 which you have sent me; see what fine work these men of mine have been making
 in my absence.’ 

 
 "Meanwhile Lampetie went straight off to the
 sun and told him we had been killing his cows, whereon he flew into a great
 rage, and said to the immortals, ‘Father Zeus, and all you other gods who live
 in everlasting bliss, I must have vengeance on the crew of Odysseus’ ship: they
 have had the insolence to kill my cows, which were the one thing I loved to
 look upon, whether I was going up heaven or down again. If they do not square
 accounts with me about my cows, I will go down to Hades and shine there among
 the dead.’ 

 
 "‘Sun,’ said Zeus, ‘go on shining upon us gods
 and upon humankind over the fruitful earth. I will shiver their ship into
 little pieces with a bolt of white lightning as soon as they get out to
 sea.’

"I was told all this by Calypso, who said she
 had heard it from the mouth of Hermes. 

 
 "As soon as I got down to my ship and to the
 sea shore I rebuked each one of the men separately, but we could see no way out
 of it, for the cows were dead already. And indeed the gods began at once to
 show signs and wonders among us, for the hides of the cattle crawled about, and
 the joints upon the spits began to low like cows, and the meat, whether cooked
 or raw, kept on making a noise just as cows do. 

 
 "For six days my men kept driving in the best
 cows and feasting upon them, but when Zeus the son of Kronos had added a
 seventh day, the fury of the gale abated; we therefore went on board, raised
 our masts, spread sail, and put out to sea. As soon as we were well away from
 the island, and could see nothing but sky and sea, the son of Kronos raised a
 black cloud over our ship, and the sea grew dark beneath it. We did not get on
 much further, for in another moment we were caught by a terrific squall from
 the West that snapped the forestays of the mast so that it fell aft, while all
 the ship's gear tumbled about at the bottom of the vessel. The mast fell upon
 the head of the helmsman in the ship's stern, so that the bones of his head
 were crushed to pieces, and he fell overboard as though he were diving, with no
 more life left in him. 

 
 "Then Zeus let fly with his thunderbolts, and
 the ship went round and round, and was filled with fire and brimstone as the
 lightning struck it. The men all fell into the sea; they were carried about in
 the water round the ship, looking like so many sea-gulls, but the god presently
 deprived them of all chance of getting home again [ nostos ].

"I stuck to the ship till the sea knocked her
 sides from her keel (which drifted about by itself) and struck the mast out of
 her in the direction of the keel; but there was a backstay of stout ox-thong
 still hanging about it, and with this I lashed the mast and keel together, and
 getting astride of them was carried wherever the winds chose to take me. 

 
 "The gale from the West had now spent its
 force, and the wind got into the South again, which frightened me lest I should
 be taken back to the terrible whirlpool of Charybdis. This indeed was what
 actually happened, for I was borne along by the waves all night, and by sunrise
 had reached the rock of Scylla, and the whirlpool. She was then sucking down
 the salt sea water, but I was carried aloft toward the fig tree, which I caught
 hold of and clung on to like a bat. I could not plant my feet anywhere so as to
 stand securely, for the roots were a long way off and the boughs that
 overshadowed the whole pool were too high, too vast, and too far apart for me
 to reach them; so I hung patiently on, waiting till the pool should discharge
 my mast and raft again - and a very long while it seemed. A juryman [ krînô ] is not more glad to get home to supper, after
 having been long detained in court by troublesome cases, than I was to see my
 raft beginning to work its way out of the whirlpool again. At last I let go
 with my hands and feet, and fell heavily into the sea, hard by my raft on to
 which I then got, and began to row with my hands. As for Scylla, the father of
 gods and men would not let her get further sight of me - otherwise I should
 have certainly been lost. 

 
 "Hence I was carried along for nine days till
 on the tenth night the gods stranded me on the Ogygian island, where dwells the
 great and powerful goddess Calypso. She took me in and was kind to me, but I
 need say no more about this, for I told you and your noble wife all about it
 yesterday, and it is hateful [ ekhthron ] for me to
 say the same thing over and over again."

Thus did he speak, and they all held their peace
 throughout the covered room, enthralled by the charm of his story, till
 presently Alkinoos began to speak. 

 
 "Odysseus," said he, "now that you have reached
 my house I doubt not you will get home without further misadventure no matter
 how much you have suffered in the past. To you others, however, who come here
 night after night to drink my choicest wine and listen to my bard, I would
 insist as follows. Our guest has already packed up the clothes, wrought gold,
 and other valuables which you have brought for his acceptance; let us now,
 therefore, present him further, each one of us, with a large tripod and a
 cauldron. We will recoup ourselves by the levy of a general rate throughout the
 dêmos ; for private individuals cannot be
 expected to bear the burden of such a handsome present." 

 
 Every one approved of this, and then they went
 home to bed each in his own abode. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered
 Dawn, appeared, they hurried down to the ship and brought their cauldrons with
 them. Alkinoos went on board and saw everything so securely stowed under the
 ship's benches that nothing could break adrift and injure the rowers. Then they
 went to the house of Alkinoos to get dinner, and he sacrificed a bull for them
 in honor of Zeus who is the lord of all. They set the meats to grill and made
 an excellent dinner, after which the inspired bard, Demodokos, who was a
 favorite with every one, sang to them; but Odysseus kept on turning his eyes
 towards the sun, as though to hasten his setting, for he was longing to be on
 his way. As one who has been all day ploughing a fallow field with a couple of
 oxen keeps thinking about his supper and is glad when night comes that he may
 go and get it, for it is all his legs can do to carry him, even so did Odysseus
 rejoice when the sun went down, and he at once said to the Phaeacians,
 addressing himself more particularly to King Alkinoos: 

 
 "Sir, and all of you, farewell. Make your
 drink-offerings and send me on my way rejoicing, for you have fulfilled my
 heart's desire by giving me an escort, and making me presents, which heaven
 grant that I may turn to good account [ olbios ]; may
 I find my admirable wife living in peace among friends, and may you whom I
 leave behind me give satisfaction to your wives and children; may heaven grant
 you every good grace [ aretê ], and may no evil thing
 come among your people."

Thus did he speak. His hearers all of them
 approved his saying and agreed that he should have his escort inasmuch as he
 had spoken reasonably. Alkinoos therefore said to his servant, "Pontonoos, mix
 some wine and hand it round to everybody, that we may offer a prayer to father
 Zeus, and speed our guest upon his way." 

 
 Pontonoos mixed the wine and handed it to every
 one in turn; the others each from his own seat made a drink-offering to the
 blessed gods that live in heaven, but Odysseus rose and placed the double cup
 in the hands of queen Arete. 

 
 "Farewell, queen," said he, "henceforward and
 for ever, till age and death, the common lot of humankind, lay their hands upon
 you. I now take my leave; be happy in this house with your children, your
 people, and with king Alkinoos." 

 
 As he spoke he crossed the threshold, and
 Alkinoos sent a man to conduct him to his ship and to the sea shore. Arete also
 sent some maid servants with him - one with a clean shirt and cloak, another to
 carry his strong-box, and a third with grain and wine. When they got to the
 water side the crew took these things and put them on board, with all the meat
 and drink; but for Odysseus they spread a rug and a linen sheet on deck that he
 might sleep soundly in the stern of the ship. Then he too went on board and lay
 down without a word, but the crew took every man his place in order [ kosmos ] and loosed the hawser from the pierced stone
 to which it had been bound. Thereon, when they began rowing out to sea,
 Odysseus fell into a deep, sweet, and almost deathlike slumber.

The ship bounded forward on her way as a four in
 hand chariot flies over the course when the horses feel the whip. Her prow
 curved as it were the neck of a stallion, and a great wave of dark seething
 water boiled in her wake. She held steadily on her course, and even a falcon,
 swiftest of all birds, could not have kept pace with her. Thus, then, she cut
 her way through the water. carrying one who was as cunning as the gods, but who
 was now sleeping peacefully, forgetful of all that he had suffered both on the
 field of battle and by the waves of the weary sea. 

 
 When the bright star that heralds the approach
 of dawn began to show. the ship drew near to land. Now there is in the dêmos of Ithaca a haven of the Old One of the Sea, Phorkys, which lies
 between two points that break the line of the sea and shut the harbor in. These
 shelter it from the storms of wind and sea that rage outside, so that, when
 once within it, a ship may lie without being even moored. At the head of this
 harbor there is a large olive tree, and at no distance a fine overarching
 cavern sacred to the nymphs who are called Naiads. There are mixing-bowls
 within it and wine-jars of stone, and the bees hive there. Moreover, there are
 great looms of stone on which the nymphs weave their robes of sea purple - very
 curious to see - and at all times there is water within it. It has two
 entrances, one facing North by which mortals can go down into the cave, while
 the other comes from the South and is more mysterious; mortals cannot possibly
 get in by it, it is the way taken by the gods. 

 
 Into this harbor, then, they took their ship,
 for they knew the place, She had so much way upon her that she ran half her own
 length on to the shore; when, however, they had landed, the first thing they
 did was to lift Odysseus with his rug and linen sheet out of the ship, and lay
 him down upon the sand still fast asleep. Then they took out the presents which
 Athena had persuaded the Phaeacians to give him when he was setting out on his
 voyage homewards. They put these all together by the root of the olive tree,
 away from the road, for fear some passer by might come and steal them before
 Odysseus awoke; and then they made the best of their way home again. 

 
 But Poseidon did not forget the threats with
 which he had already threatened Odysseus, so he took counsel with Zeus. "Father
 Zeus," said he, "I shall no longer be held in any sort of respect among you
 gods, if mortals like the Phaeacians, who are my own flesh and blood, show such
 small regard for me. I said I would get Odysseus home when he had suffered
 sufficiently. I did not say that he should never have a homecoming [ nostos ] at all, for I knew you had already nodded your
 head about it, and promised that he should do so; but now they have brought him
 over the sea in a ship fast asleep and have landed him in Ithaca after loading him with more magnificent
 presents of bronze, gold, and raiment than he would ever have brought back from
 Troy , if he had had his share of
 the spoil and got home without misadventure."

And Zeus answered, "What, O Lord of the
 Earthquake, are you talking about? The gods are by no means wanting in respect
 for you. It would be monstrous were they to insult one so old and honored as
 you are. As regards mortals, however, if any of them is indulging in insolence
 [ biê ] and treating you disrespectfully, it will
 always rest with yourself to deal with him as you may think proper, so do just
 as you please." 

 
 "I should have done so at once," replied
 Poseidon, "if I were not anxious to avoid anything that might displease you;
 now, therefore, I should like to wreck the Phaeacian ship as it is returning
 from its escort. This will stop them from escorting people in future; and I
 should also like to envelop their city under a huge mountain." 

 
 "My good friend," answered Zeus, "I should
 recommend you at the very moment when the people from the city are watching the
 ship on her way, to turn it into a rock near the land and looking like a ship.
 This will astonish everybody, and you can then envelop their city under the
 mountain." 

 
 When earth-encircling Poseidon heard this he
 went to Scheria where the Phaeacians
 live, and stayed there till the ship, which was making rapid way, had got
 close-in. Then he went up to it, turned it into stone, and drove it down with
 the flat of his hand so as to root it in the ground. After this he went
 away.

The Phaeacians then began talking among
 themselves, and one would turn towards his neighbor, saying, "Who is it that
 can have rooted the ship in the sea just as she was getting into port? We could
 see the whole of her only a moment ago." 

 
 This was how they talked, but they knew nothing
 about it; and Alkinoos said, "I remember now the old prophecy of my father. He
 said that Poseidon would be angry with us for taking every one so safely over
 the sea, and would one day wreck a Phaeacian ship as it was returning from an
 escort, and envelop our city with a high mountain. This was what my old father
 used to say, and now it is all coming true. Now therefore let us all do as I
 say; in the first place we must leave off giving people escorts when they come
 here, and in the next let us sacrifice twelve picked [ krinô ] bulls to Poseidon that he may have mercy upon us, and not
 envelop our city with the high mountain." When the people heard this they were
 afraid and got ready the bulls. 

 
 Thus did the chiefs and rulers of the dêmos of the Phaeacians to king Poseidon, standing
 round his altar; and at the same time Odysseus woke up once more upon his own
 soil. He had been so long away that he did not know it again; moreover, Zeus’
 daughter Athena had made it a foggy day, so that people might not know of his
 having come, and that she might tell him everything without either his wife or
 his fellow citizens and friends recognizing him until he had taken his revenge
 upon the wicked suitors. Everything, therefore, seemed quite different to him -
 the long straight tracks, the harbors, the precipices, and the goodly trees,
 appeared all changed as he started up and looked upon his native land. So he
 smote his thighs with the flat of his hands and cried aloud despairingly. 

 
 "Alas," he exclaimed, "among what manner of
 people am I fallen? Are they savage and uncivilized [not dikaios ] or hospitable and endowed with god-fearing noos ? Where shall I put all this treasure, and which
 way shall I go? I wish I had stayed over there with the Phaeacians; or I could
 have gone to some other great chief who would have been good to me and given me
 an escort. As it is I do not know where to put my treasure, and I cannot leave
 it here for fear somebody else should get hold of it. In good truth the chiefs
 and rulers of the Phaeacians have not been dealing fairly [ dikaios ] by me, and have left me in the wrong country; they said
 they would take me back to Ithaca and
 they have not done so: may Zeus the protector of suppliants chastise them, for
 he watches over everybody and punishes those who do wrong. Still, I suppose I
 must count my goods and see if the crew have gone off with any of them."

He counted his goodly coppers and cauldrons,
 his gold and all his clothes, but there was nothing missing; still he kept
 grieving about not being in his own country, and wandered up and down by the
 shore of the sounding sea bewailing his hard fate. Then Athena came up to him
 disguised as a young shepherd of delicate and princely mien, with a good cloak
 folded double about her shoulders; she had sandals on her comely feet and held
 a javelin in her hand. Odysseus was glad when he saw her, and went straight up
 to her. 

 
 "My friend," said he, "you are the first person
 whom I have met with in this country; I salute you, therefore, and beg you to
 be well disposed in noos towards me. Protect these
 my goods, and myself too, for I embrace your knees and pray to you as though
 you were a god. Tell me, then, and tell me truly, what land and country [ dêmos ] is this? Who are its inhabitants? Am I on an
 island, or is this the sea board of some continent?" 

 
 Athena answered, "Stranger, you must be very
 simple, or must have come from somewhere a long way off, not to know what
 country this is. It is a very celebrated place, and everybody knows it East and
 West. It is rugged and not a good driving country, but it is by no means a bad
 island for what there is of it. It grows any quantity of grain and also wine,
 for it is watered both by rain and dew; it breeds cattle also and goats; all
 kinds of timber grow here, and there are watering places where the water never
 runs dry; so, sir, the name of Ithaca 
 is known even as far as Troy , which I
 understand to be a long way off from this Achaean country." 

 
 Odysseus was glad at finding himself, as Athena
 told him, in his own country, and he began to answer, but he did not speak the
 truth [ alêthês ], and made up a lying story in the
 instinctive wiliness of his noos .

"I heard of Ithaca ," said he, "when I was in Crete beyond the seas, and now it seems I have reached it with
 all these treasures. I have left as much more behind me for my children, but am
 fleeing because I killed Orsilokhos son of Idomeneus, the fleetest runner in
 Crete . I killed him because he
 wanted to rob me of the spoils I had got from Troy with so much trouble and danger both on the field of
 battle and by the waves of the weary sea; he said I had not served his father
 loyally in the Trojan dêmos as vassal, but had set
 myself up as an independent ruler, so I lay in wait for him and with one of my
 followers by the road side, and speared him as he was coming into town from the
 country. It was a very dark night and nobody saw us; it was not known,
 therefore, that I had killed him, but as soon as I had done so I went to a ship
 and besought the owners, who were Phoenicians, to take me on board and set me
 in Pylos or in Elis where the Epeans rule, giving them as
 much spoil as satisfied them. They meant no guile, but the wind drove them off
 their course, and we sailed on till we came hither by night. It was all we
 could do to get inside the harbor, and none of us said a word about supper
 though we wanted it badly, but we all went on shore and lay down just as we
 were. I was very tired and fell asleep directly, so they took my goods out of
 the ship, and placed them beside me where I was lying upon the sand. Then they
 sailed away to Sidonia, and I was left here in great distress of mind." 

 
 Such was his story, but Athena smiled and
 caressed him with her hand. Then she took the form of a woman, fair, stately,
 and wise, "He must be indeed a shifty and deceitful person," said she, "who
 could surpass you in all manner of craft [ kerdos ]
 even though you had a god for your antagonist. Daring that you are, full of
 guile, unwearying in deceit [ apatê ], can you not
 drop your tricks and your instinctive falsehood, even now that you are in your
 own country again? We will say no more, however, about this, for we both of us
 know craftiness [ kerdos ] upon occasion - you are
 the best counselor and orator among all humankind, while I for diplomacy and
 crafty ways [ kerdea ] have fame [ kleos ] among the gods. Did you not know Zeus’ daughter
 Athena - me, who have been ever with you, who kept watch over you in all your
 ordeals [ ponoi ], and who made the Phaeacians take
 so great a liking to you? And now, again, I am come here to talk things over
 with you, and help you to hide the treasure I made the Phaeacians give you; I
 want to tell you about the troubles that await you in your own house; you have
 got to face them, but tell no one, neither man nor woman, that you have come
 home again. Bear everything, and put up with every man's violent insolence
 [ biê ], without a word." 

 
 And Odysseus answered, "A man, goddess, may
 know a great deal, but you are so constantly changing your appearance that when
 he meets you it is a hard matter for him to know whether it is you or not. This
 much, however, I know exceedingly well; you were very kind to me as long as we
 Achaeans were fighting before Troy ,
 but from the day on which we went on board ship after having sacked the city of
 Priam, and heaven dispersed us - from that day, Athena, I saw no more of you,
 and cannot ever remember your coming to my ship to help me in a difficulty; I
 had to wander on sick and sorry till the gods delivered me from evil and I
 reached the dêmos of the Phaeacians, where you
 encouraged me and took me into the town. And now, I beseech you in your
 father's name, tell me the truth, for I do not believe I am really back in
 Ithaca . I am in some other country
 and you are mocking me and deceiving me in all you have been saying. Tell me
 then truly, have I really got back to my own country?" 

 
 "You are always taking something of that sort
 into your head," replied Athena, "and that is why I cannot desert you in your
 afflictions; you are so plausible, shrewd and shifty. Any one but yourself on
 returning from so long a voyage would at once have gone home to see his wife
 and children, but you do not seem to care about asking after them or hearing
 any news about them till you have made trial of your wife, who remains at home
 vainly grieving for you, and having no peace night or day for the tears she
 sheds on your behalf. As for my not coming near you, I was never uneasy about
 you, for I was certain you would get back safely though you would lose all your
 men, and I did not wish to quarrel with my uncle Poseidon, who never forgave
 you for having blinded his son. I will now, however, point out to you the lie
 of the land, and you will then perhaps believe me. This is the haven of the Old
 One of the Sea, Phorkys, and here is the olive tree that grows at the head of
 it; [near it is the cave sacred to the Naiads;] here too is the overarching
 cavern in which you have offered many an acceptable hecatomb to the nymphs, and
 this is the wooded mountain Neritum."

As she spoke the goddess dispersed the mist and
 the land appeared. Then Odysseus rejoiced at finding himself again in his own
 land, and kissed the bounteous soil; he lifted up his hands and prayed to the
 nymphs, saying, "Naiad nymphs, daughters of Zeus, I made sure that I was never
 again to see you, now therefore I greet you with all loving salutations, and I
 will bring you offerings as in the old days, if Zeus’ redoubtable daughter will
 grant me life, and bring my son to manhood." 

 
 "Take heart, and do not trouble yourself about
 that," rejoined Athena, "let us rather set about stowing your things at once in
 the cave, where they will be quite safe. Let us see how we can best manage it
 all." 

 
 Therewith she went down into the cave to look
 for the safest hiding places, while Odysseus brought up all the treasure of
 gold, bronze, and good clothing which the Phaeacians had given him. They stowed
 everything carefully away, and Athena set a stone against the door of the cave.
 Then the two sat down by the root of the great olive, and consulted how to
 compass the destruction of the wicked suitors. 

 
 "Odysseus," said Athena, "noble son of
 Laertes , think how you can lay
 hands on these disreputable people who have been lording it in your house these
 three years, courting your wife and making wedding presents to her, while she
 does nothing but mourning your nostos , giving hope
 and sending encouraging messages to every one of them, but meaning [in her
 noos ] the very opposite of all she says."

And Odysseus answered, "In good truth, goddess,
 it seems I should have come to much the same bad end in my own house as
 Agamemnon did, if you had not given me such timely information. Advise me how I
 shall best avenge myself. Stand by my side and put your courage into my heart
 as on the day when we loosed Troy 's
 fair diadem from her brow. Help me now as you did then, and I will fight three
 hundred men, if you, goddess, will be with me." 

 
 "Trust me for that," said she, "I will not lose
 sight of you when once we set about it, and I would imagine that some of those
 who are devouring your substance will then bespatter the pavement with their
 blood and brains. I will begin by disguising you so that no human being shall
 know you; I will cover your body with wrinkles; you shall lose all your yellow
 hair; I will clothe you in a garment that shall fill all who see it with
 loathing; I will blear your fine eyes for you, and make you an unseemly object
 in the sight of the suitors, of your wife, and of the son whom you left behind
 you. Then go at once to the swineherd who is in charge of your pigs; he has
 been always well affected towards you, and is devoted to Penelope and your son;
 you will find him feeding his pigs near the rock that is called Raven by the
 fountain Arethusa, where they are fattening on beechmast and spring water after
 their manner. Stay with him and find out how things are going, while I proceed
 to Sparta and see your son, who is
 with Menelaos at Lacedaemon , where he
 has gone to try and find a report [ kleos ] on
 whether you are still alive." 

 
 "But why," said Odysseus, "did you not tell
 him, for you knew all about it? Did you want him too to go sailing about amid
 all kinds of hardship while others are eating up his estate?" 

 
 Athena answered, "Never mind about him, I sent
 him that he might be well spoken [ kleos ] of for
 having gone. He is in no sort of difficulty [ ponos ], but is staying quite comfortably with Menelaos, and is
 surrounded with abundance of every kind. The suitors have put out to sea and
 are lying in wait for him, for they mean to kill him before he can get home. I
 do not much think they will succeed, but rather that some of those who are now
 eating up your estate will first find a grave themselves."

As she spoke Athena touched him with her wand
 and covered him with wrinkles, took away all his yellow hair, and withered the
 flesh over his whole body; she bleared his eyes, which were naturally very fine
 ones; she changed his clothes and threw an old rag of a wrap about him, and a
 tunic, tattered, filthy, and begrimed with smoke; she also gave him an
 undressed deer skin as an outer garment, and furnished him with a staff and a
 wallet all in holes, with a twisted thong for him to sling it over his
 shoulder. 

 
 When the pair had thus laid their plans they
 parted, and the goddess went straight to Lacedaemon to fetch Telemakhos.

Odysseus now left the haven, and took the rough
 track up through the wooded country and over the crest of the mountain till he
 reached the place where Athena had said that he would find the swineherd, who
 was the most thrifty servant he had. He found him sitting in front of his hut,
 which was by the yards that he had built on a site which could be seen from
 far. He had made them spacious and fair to see, with a free ran for the pigs
 all round them; he had built them during his master's absence, of stones which
 he had gathered out of the ground, without saying anything to Penelope or
 Laertes , and he had fenced them
 on top with thorn bushes. Outside the yard he had run a strong fence of oaken
 posts, split, and set pretty close together, while inside lie had built twelve
 sties near one another for the sows to lie in. There were fifty pigs wallowing
 in each sty, all of them breeding sows; but the boars slept outside and were
 much fewer in number, for the suitors kept on eating them, and the swineherd
 had to send them the best he had continually. There were three hundred and
 sixty boar pigs, and the herdsman's four hounds, which were as fierce as
 wolves, slept always with them. The swineherd was at that moment cutting out a
 pair of sandals from a good stout ox hide. Three of his men were out herding
 the pigs in one place or another, and he had sent the fourth to town with a
 boar that he had been forced to send the suitors that they might sacrifice it
 and have their fill of meat. 

 
 When the hounds saw Odysseus they set up a
 furious barking and flew at him, but Odysseus was cunning enough to sit down
 and loose his hold of the stick that he had in his hand: still, he would have
 been torn by them in his own homestead had not the swineherd dropped his ox
 hide, rushed full speed through the gate of the yard and driven the dogs off by
 shouting and throwing stones at them. Then he said to Odysseus, "Old man, the
 dogs were likely to have made short work of you, and then you would have got me
 into trouble. The gods have given me quite enough worries without that, for I
 have lost the best of masters, and am in continual grief on his account. I have
 to attend swine for other people to eat, while he, if he yet lives to see the
 light of day, is starving in some distant dêmos .
 But come inside, and when you have had your fill of bread and wine, tell me
 where you come from, and all about your misfortunes." 

 
 On this the swineherd led the way into the hut
 and bade him sit down. He strewed a good thick bed of rushes upon the floor,
 and on the top of this he threw the shaggy chamois skin - a great thick one -
 on which he used to sleep by night. Odysseus was pleased at being made thus
 welcome, and said "May Zeus, sir, and the rest of the gods grant you your
 heart's desire in return for the kind way in which you have received me." 

 
 To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaios,
 "Stranger, though a still poorer man should come here, it would not be right
 for me to insult him, for all strangers and beggars are from Zeus. You must
 take what you can get and be thankful, for servants live in fear when they have
 young lords for their masters; and this is my misfortune now, for heaven has
 hindered the return [ nostos ] of him who would have
 been always good to me and given me something of my own - a house, a piece of
 land, a good looking wife, and all else that a liberal master allows a servant
 who has worked hard for him, and whose labor the gods have prospered as they
 have mine in the situation which I hold. If my master had grown old here he
 would have done great things by me, but he is gone, and I wish that Helen's
 whole race were utterly destroyed, for she has been the death of many a good
 man. It was this matter that took my master to Ilion , the land of noble steeds, to fight the Trojans in the
 cause of king Agamemnon."

As he spoke he bound his belt round him and went
 to the sties where the young sucking pigs were penned. He picked out two which
 he brought back with him and sacrificed. He singed them, cut them up, and
 spitted on them; when the meat was cooked he brought it all in and set it
 before Odysseus, hot and still on the spit, whereon Odysseus sprinkled it over
 with white barley meal. The swineherd then mixed wine in a bowl of ivy-wood,
 and taking a seat opposite Odysseus told him to begin. 

 
 "Fall to, stranger," said he, "on a dish of
 servant's pork. The fat pigs have to go to the suitors, who eat them up without
 shame or scruple; but the blessed gods love not such shameful doings, and
 respect those who do what is lawful and right [ dikê ]. Even the fierce free-booters who go raiding on other people's
 land, and Zeus gives them their spoil - even they, when they have filled their
 ships and got home again live conscience-stricken, and look fearfully for
 judgment; but some god seems to have told these people that Odysseus is dead
 and gone; they will not, therefore, go back to their own homes and make their
 offers of marriage in the proper way [ dikaios ], but
 waste his estate by force, without fear or stint. Not a day or night comes out
 of heaven, but they sacrifice not one victim nor two only, and they take the
 run of his wine, for he was exceedingly rich. No other great man either in
 Ithaca or on the mainland is as
 rich as he was; he had as much as twenty men put together. I will tell you what
 he had. There are twelve herds of cattle upon the mainland, and as many flocks
 of sheep, there are also twelve droves of pigs, while his own men and hired
 strangers feed him twelve widely spreading herds of goats. Here in Ithaca he runs even large flocks of goats on
 the far end of the island, and they are in the charge of excellent goatherds.
 Each one of these sends the suitors the best goat in the flock every day. As
 for myself, I am in charge of the pigs that you see here, and I have to keep
 picking [ krinô ] out the best I have and sending it
 to them." 

 
 This was his story, but Odysseus went on eating
 and drinking ravenously without a word, brooding his revenge. When he had eaten
 enough and was satisfied, the swineherd took the bowl from which he usually
 drank, filled it with wine, and gave it to Odysseus, who was pleased, and said
 as he took it in his hands, "My friend, who was this master of yours that
 bought you and paid for you, so rich and so powerful as you tell me? You say he
 perished in the cause of King Agamemnon; tell me who he was, in case I may have
 met with such a person. Zeus and the other gods know, but I may be able to give
 you news of him, for I have traveled much." 

 
 Eumaios answered, "Old man, no traveler who
 comes here with news will get Odysseus’ wife and son to believe his story.
 Nevertheless, tramps in want of a lodging keep coming with their mouths full of
 lies, and not a word of truth [ alêthês ]; every one
 who finds his way to the Ithacan dêmos goes to my
 mistress and tells her falsehoods, whereon she takes them in, makes much of
 them, and asks them all manner of questions, crying all the time as women will
 when they have lost their husbands. And you too, old man, for a shirt and a
 cloak would doubtless make up a very pretty story. But the wolves and birds of
 prey have long since torn Odysseus to pieces, and his psukhê left him behind; or the fishes of the sea have eaten him, and
 his bones are lying buried deep in sand upon some foreign shore; he is dead and
 gone, and a bad business it is for all his friends - for me especially; go
 where I may I shall never find so good a master, not even if I were to go home
 to my mother and father where I was bred and born. I do not so much care,
 however, about my parents now, though I should dearly like to see them again in
 my own country; it is the loss of Odysseus that grieves me most; I cannot speak
 of him without reverence though he is here no longer, for he was very fond of
 me, and took such care of me that wherever he may be I shall always honor his
 memory."

"My friend," replied Odysseus, "you are very
 positive, and very hard of belief about your master's coming home again,
 nevertheless I will not merely say, but will swear, that he is coming. Do not
 give me anything for my news till he has actually come, you may then give me a
 shirt and cloak of good wear if you will. I am in great want, but I will not
 take anything at all till then, for hateful [ ekhthros ] is the man, as hateful as Hades, who lets his poverty
 tempt him into lying. I swear by king Zeus, by the rites of hospitality, and by
 that hearth of Odysseus to which I have now come, that all will surely happen
 as I have said it will. Odysseus will return in this self same year; with the
 end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be here to do vengeance
 on all those who are ill treating his wife and son." 

 
 To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaios, "Old
 man, you will neither get paid for bringing good news, nor will Odysseus ever
 come home; drink you wine in peace, and let us talk about something else. Do
 not keep on reminding me of all this; it always pains me when any one speaks
 about my honored master. As for your oath we will let it alone, but I only wish
 he may come, as do Penelope, his old father Laertes , and his son Telemakhos. I am terribly unhappy too
 about this same boy of his; he was running up fast into manhood, and bade fare
 to be no worse man, face and figure, than his father, but some one, either god
 or man, has been unsettling his mind, so he has gone off to Pylos to try and get news of his father, and
 the suitors are lying in wait for him as he is coming home, in the hope of
 leaving the house of Arceisius without a name in Ithaca . But let us say no more about him, and leave him to be
 taken, or else to escape if the son of Kronos holds his hand over him to
 protect him. And now, old man, tell me your own story; tell me also, for I want
 to know, who you are and where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents,
 what manner of ship you came in, what crew brought you to Ithaca , and from what country they professed
 to come - for you cannot have come by land." 

 
 And Odysseus answered, "I will tell you all
 about it. If there were meat and wine enough, and we could stay here in the hut
 with nothing to do but to eat and drink while the others go to their work, I
 could easily talk on for a whole twelve months without ever finishing the story
 of the sorrows with which it has pleased heaven to visit me. 

 
 "I am by birth a Cretan; my father was a
 well-to-do man, who had many sons born in marriage, whereas I was the son of a
 slave whom he had purchased for a concubine; nevertheless, my father Castor son
 of Hylax (whose lineage I claim, and who was held in the highest honor in the
 dêmos of the Cretans for his wealth, prosperity
 [ olbos ], and the valor of his sons) put me on
 the same level with my brothers who had been born in wedlock. When, however,
 death took him to the house of Hades, his sons divided his estate and cast lots
 for their shares, but to me they gave a holding and little else; nevertheless,
 my valor [ aretê ] enabled me to marry into a rich
 family, for I was not given to bragging, or shirking on the field of battle. It
 is all over now; still, if you look at the straw you can see what the ear was,
 for I have had trouble enough and to spare. Ares and Athena made me doughty in
 war; when I had picked [ krinô ] my men to surprise
 the enemy with an ambuscade I never gave death so much as a thought, but was
 the first to leap forward and spear all whom I could overtake. Such was I in
 battle, but I did not care about farm work, nor the frugal home life of those
 who would bring up children. My delight was in ships, fighting, javelins, and
 arrows - things that most men shudder to think of; but one man likes one thing
 and another another, and this was what I was most naturally inclined to. Before
 the Achaeans went to Troy , nine times
 was I in command of men and ships on foreign service, and I amassed much
 wealth. I had my pick of the spoil in the first instance, and much more was
 allotted to me later on.

"My house grew apace and I became a great man
 among the Cretans, but when Zeus counseled that terrible expedition, in which
 so many perished, the people required me and Idomeneus to lead their ships to
 Troy , and there was no way out of
 it, for the judgment of the dêmos insisted on our
 doing so. There we fought for nine whole years, but in the tenth we sacked the
 city of Priam and sailed home again as heaven dispersed us. Then it was that
 Zeus devised evil against me. I spent but one month happily with my children,
 wife, and property, and then I conceived the idea of making a descent on
 Egypt , so I fitted out a fine fleet
 and manned it. I had nine ships, and the people flocked to fill them. For six
 days I and my men made feast, and I found them many victims both for sacrifice
 to the gods and for themselves, but on the seventh day we went on board and set
 sail from Crete with a fair North wind
 behind us though we were going down a river. Nothing went ill with any of our
 ships, and we had no sickness on board, but sat where we were and let the ships
 go as the wind and steersmen took them. On the fifth day we reached the river
 Aigyptos; there I stationed my ships in the river, bidding my men stay by them
 and keep guard over them while I sent out scouts to reconnoiter from every
 point of vantage. 

 
 "But the men in their insolence [ hubris ] disobeyed my orders, took to their own
 devices, and ravaged the land of the Egyptians, killing the men, and taking
 their wives and children captive. The alarm was soon carried to the city, and
 when they heard the war cry, the people came out at daybreak till the plain was
 filled with horsemen and foot soldiers and with the gleam of armor. Then Zeus
 spread panic among my men, and they would no longer face the enemy, for they
 found themselves surrounded. The Egyptians killed many of us, and took the rest
 alive to do forced labor for them. Zeus, however, put it in my mind to do thus
 - and I wish I had died then and there in Egypt instead, for there was much sorrow in store for me - I
 took off my helmet and shield and dropped my spear from my hand; then I went
 straight up to the king's chariot, clasped his knees and kissed them, whereon
 he spared my life, bade me get into his chariot, and took me weeping to his own
 home. Many made at me with their ashen spears and tried to kill me in their
 fury, but the king protected me, for he feared the mênis of Zeus the protector of strangers, who punishes those who do
 evil. 

 
 "I stayed there for seven years and got
 together much wealth among the Egyptians, for they all gave me something; but
 when it was now going on for eight years there came a certain Phoenician, a
 cunning rascal, who had already committed all sorts of villainy, and this man
 talked me over into going with him to Phoenicia , where his house and his possessions lay. I stayed
 there for a whole twelve months, but at the end of that time when months and
 days had gone by till the same season [ hôra ] had
 come round again, he set me on board a ship bound for Libya , on a pretense that I was to take a
 cargo along with him to that place, but really that he might sell me as a slave
 and take the wealth I fetched. I suspected his intention, but went on board
 with him, for I could not help it. 

 
 "The ship ran before a fresh North wind till we
 had reached the sea that lies between Crete and Libya ;
 there, however, Zeus counseled their destruction, for as soon as we were well
 out from Crete and could see nothing
 but sea and sky, he raised a black cloud over our ship and the sea grew dark
 beneath it. Then Zeus let fly with his thunderbolts and the ship went round and
 round and was filled with fire and brimstone as the lightning struck it. The
 men fell all into the sea; they were carried about in the water round the ship
 looking like so many sea-gulls, but the god presently deprived them of all
 chance of homecoming [ nostos ] again. I was all
 dismayed; Zeus, however, sent the ship's mast within my reach, which saved my
 life, for I clung to it, and drifted before the fury of the gale. Nine days did
 I drift but in the darkness of the tenth night a great wave bore me on to the
 Thesprotian coast. There Pheidon king of the Thesprotians entertained me
 hospitably without charging me anything at all, for his son found me when I was
 nearly dead with cold and fatigue, whereon he raised me by the hand, took me to
 his father's house and gave me clothes to wear.

"There it was that I heard news of Odysseus,
 for the king told me he had entertained him, and shown him much hospitality
 while he was on his homeward journey. He showed me also the treasure of gold,
 and wrought iron that Odysseus had got together. There was enough to keep his
 family for ten generations, so much had he left in the house of king Pheidon.
 But the king said Odysseus had gone to Dodona that he might learn Zeus’ mind from the god's high oak
 tree, and know whether after so long an absence he should return to the dêmos of Ithaca openly, or in secret. Moreover the king swore in my
 presence, making drink-offerings in his own house as he did so, that the ship
 was by the water side, and the crew found, that should take him to his own
 country. He sent me off however before Odysseus returned, for there happened to
 be a Thesprotian ship sailing for the wheat-growing island of Dulichium, and he
 told those in charge of her to be sure and take me safely to King Akastos. 

 
 "These men hatched a plot against me that would
 have reduced me to the very extreme of misery, for when the ship had got some
 way out from land they resolved on selling me as a slave. They stripped me of
 the shirt and cloak that I was wearing, and gave me instead the tattered old
 clouts in which you now see me; then, towards nightfall, they reached the
 tilled lands of Ithaca , and there they
 bound me with a strong rope fast in the ship, while they went on shore to get
 supper by the sea side. But the gods soon undid my bonds for me, and having
 drawn my rags over my head I slid down the rudder into the sea, where I struck
 out and swam till I was well clear of them, and came ashore near a thick wood
 in which I lay concealed. They were very angry at my having escaped and went
 searching about for me, till at last they thought it was no further use and
 went back to their ship. The gods, having hidden me thus easily, then took me
 to a good man's door - for it seems that I am not to die yet awhile." 

 
 To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaios,
 "Poor unhappy stranger, I have found the story of your misfortunes extremely
 interesting, but that part about Odysseus is not right [ kosmos ]; and you will never get me to believe it. Why should a man
 like you go about telling lies in this way? I know all about the return [ nostos ] of my master. The gods one and all of them
 detest him, or they would have taken him before Troy , or let him die with friends around him when the days of
 his fighting were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his
 ashes and his son would have been heir to his kleos , but now the storm winds have spirited him away we know not
 where. 

 
 "As for me I live out of the way here with the
 pigs, and never go to the town unless when Penelope sends for me on the arrival
 of some news about Odysseus. Then they all sit round and ask questions, both
 those who grieve over the king's absence, and those who rejoice at it because
 they can eat up his property without paying for it. For my own part I have
 never cared about asking anyone else since the time when I was taken in by an
 Aetolian, who had killed a man and come a long way till at last he reached my
 station, and I was very kind to him. He said he had seen Odysseus with
 Idomeneus among the Cretans, refitting his ships which had been damaged in a
 gale. He said Odysseus would return in the following summer or autumn with his
 men, and that he would bring back much wealth. And now you, you unfortunate old
 man, since a daimôn has brought you to my door, do
 not try to flatter me in this way with vain hopes. It is not for any such
 reason that I shall treat you kindly, but only out of respect for Zeus the god
 of hospitality, as fearing him and pitying you."

Odysseus answered, "I see that you are of an
 unbelieving mind; I have given you my oath, and yet you will not credit me; let
 us then make a bargain, and call all the gods in heaven to witness it. If your
 master comes home, give me a cloak and shirt of good wear, and send me to
 Dulichium where I want to go; but if he does not come as I say he will, set
 your men on to me, and tell them to throw me from yonder precipice, as a
 warning to tramps not to go about the country telling lies." 

 
 "And aretê famed
 among men would be mine " replied Eumaios, "both now and
 hereafter, if I were to kill you after receiving you into my hut and showing
 you hospitality. I should have to say my prayers in good earnest if I did; but
 it is just supper time [ hôra ] and I hope my men
 will come in directly, that we may cook something savory for supper." 

 
 Thus did they converse, and presently the
 swineherds came up with the pigs, which were then shut up for the night in
 their sties, and a tremendous squealing they made as they were being driven
 into them. But Eumaios called to his men and said, "Bring in the best pig you
 have, that I may sacrifice for this stranger, and we will take toll of him
 ourselves. We have had trouble enough this long time feeding pigs, while others
 reap the fruit of our labor." 

 
 On this he began chopping firewood, while the
 others brought in a fine fat five year old boar pig, and set it at the altar.
 Eumaios did not forget the gods, for he was a man of good principles, so the
 first thing he did was to cut bristles from the pig's face and throw them into
 the fire, praying to all the gods as he did so that Odysseus might return home
 again. Then he clubbed the pig with a billet of oak which he had kept back when
 he was chopping the firewood, and its psukhê left
 it, while the others slaughtered and singed it. Then they cut it up, and
 Eumaios began by putting raw pieces from each joint on to some of the fat;
 these he sprinkled with barley meal, and laid upon the embers; they cut the
 rest of the meat up small, put the pieces upon the spits and roasted them till
 they were done; when they had taken them off the spits they threw them on to
 the dresser in a heap. The swineherd, who was a most equitable man, then stood
 up to give every one his share. He made seven portions; one of these he set
 apart for Hermes the son of Maia and
 the nymphs, praying to them as he did so; the others he dealt out to the men
 man by man. He gave Odysseus some slices cut lengthways down the loin as a mark
 of especial honor, and Odysseus was much pleased. "I hope, Eumaios," said he,
 "that Zeus will be as well disposed towards you as I am, for the respect you
 are showing to an outcast like myself."

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaios,
 "Eat, my good fellow, and enjoy your supper, such as it is. A god grants this,
 and withholds that, just as he thinks right, for he can do whatever he
 chooses." 

 
 As he spoke he cut off the first piece and
 offered it as a burnt sacrifice to the immortal gods; then he made them a
 drink-offering, put the cup in the hands of Odysseus, and sat down to his own
 portion. Mesaulios brought them their bread; the swineherd had bought this man
 on his own account from among the Taphians during his master's absence, and had
 paid for him with his own wealth without saying anything either to his mistress
 or Laertes . They then laid their
 hands upon the good things that were before them, and when they had had enough
 to eat and drink, Mesaulios took away what was left of the bread, and they all
 went to bed after having made a hearty supper. 

 
 Now the night came on stormy and very dark, for
 there was no moon. It poured without ceasing, and the wind blew strong from the
 West, which is a wet quarter, so Odysseus thought he would see whether Eumaios,
 in the excellent care he took of him, would take off his own cloak and give it
 him, or make one of his men give him one. "Listen to me," said he, "Eumaios and
 the rest of you; when I have said a prayer I will tell you something. It is the
 wine that makes me talk in this way; wine will make even a wise man fall to
 singing; it will make him chuckle and dance and say many a word that he had
 better leave unspoken; still, as I have begun, I will go on. Would that I were
 still young and strong [ biê ] as when we got up an
 ambuscade before Troy . Menelaos and
 Odysseus were the leaders, but I was in command also, for the other two would
 have it so. When we had come up to the wall of the city we crouched down
 beneath our armor and lay there under cover of the reeds and thick brush-wood
 that grew about the swamp. It came on to freeze with a North wind blowing; the
 snow fell small and fine like hoar frost, and our shields were coated thick
 with rime. The others had all got cloaks and shirts, and slept comfortably
 enough with their shields about their shoulders, but I had carelessly left my
 cloak behind me, not thinking that I should be too cold, and had gone off in
 nothing but my shirt and shield. When the night was two-thirds through and the
 stars had shifted their places, I nudged Odysseus who was close to me with my
 elbow, and he at once gave me his ear. 

 
 "‘Odysseus,’ said I, ‘this cold will be the
 death of me, for I have no cloak; some daimôn 
 fooled me into setting off with nothing on but my shirt, and I do not know what
 to do.’

"Odysseus, who was as crafty as he was valiant,
 hit upon the following plan [ noos ]: 

 
 "‘Keep still,’ said he in a low voice, ‘or the
 others will hear you.’ Then he raised his head on his elbow. 

 
 "‘My friends,’ said he, ‘I have had a dream
 from heaven in my sleep. We are a long way from the ships; I wish some one
 would go down and tell Agamemnon to send us up more men at once.’ 

 
 "On this Thoas son of Andraimon threw off his
 cloak and set out running to the ships, whereon I took the cloak and lay in it
 comfortably enough till morning. Would that I were still young and strong
 [ biê ] as I was in those days, for then some one
 of you swineherds would give me a cloak both out of good will and for the
 respect [ aidôs ] due to a brave warrior; but now
 people look down upon me because my clothes are shabby."

And Eumaios answered, "Old man, you have told
 us an excellent story [ ainos ], and have said
 nothing so far but what is quite satisfactory; for the present, therefore, you
 shall want neither clothing nor anything else that a stranger in distress may
 reasonably expect, but tomorrow morning you have to shake your own old rags
 about your body again, for we have not many spare cloaks nor shirts up here,
 but every man has only one. When Odysseus’ son comes home again he will give
 you both cloak and shirt, and send you wherever you may want to go." 

 
 With this he got up and made a bed for Odysseus
 by throwing some goatskins and sheepskins on the ground in front of the fire.
 Here Odysseus lay down, and Eumaios covered him over with a great heavy cloak
 that he kept for a change in case of extraordinarily bad weather. 

 
 Thus did Odysseus sleep, and the young men
 slept beside him. But the swineherd did not like sleeping away from his pigs,
 so he got ready to go and Odysseus was glad to see that he looked after his
 property during his master's absence. First he slung his sword over his brawny
 shoulders and put on a thick cloak to keep out the wind. He also took the skin
 of a large and well fed goat, and a javelin in case of attack from men or dogs.
 Thus equipped he went to his rest where the pigs were camping under an
 overhanging rock that gave them shelter from the North wind.

But Athena went to the fair city of Lacedaemon to tell Odysseus’ son that he was
 to return [ nostos ] at once. She found him and
 Peisistratos sleeping in the forecourt of Menelaos’ house; Peisistratos was
 fast asleep, but Telemakhos could get no rest all night for thinking of his
 unhappy father, so Athena went close up to him and said: 

 
 "Telemakhos, you should not remain so far away
 from home any longer, nor leave your property with such dangerous people in
 your house; they will eat up everything you have among them, and you will have
 been on a fool's errand. Ask Menelaos to send you home at once if you wish to
 find your excellent mother still there when you get back. Her father and
 brothers are already urging her to marry Eurymakhos, who has given her more
 than any of the others, and has been greatly increasing his wedding presents. I
 hope nothing valuable may have been taken from the house in spite of you, but
 you know what women are - they always want to do the best they can for the man
 who marries them, and never give another thought to the children of their first
 husband, nor to their father either when he is dead and done with. Go home,
 therefore, and put everything in charge of the most respectable woman servant
 that you have, until it shall please heaven to send you a wife of your own. Let
 me tell you also of another matter which you had better attend to. The chief
 men among the suitors are lying in wait for you in the Strait between
 Ithaca and Samos , and they mean to kill you before you
 can reach home. I do not much think they will succeed; it is more likely that
 some of those who are now eating up your property will find a grave themselves.
 Sail night and day, and keep your ship well away from the islands; the god who
 watches over you and protects you will send you a fair wind. As soon as you get
 to Ithaca send your ship and men on to
 the town, but yourself go straight to the swineherd who has charge your pigs;
 he is well disposed towards you, stay with him, therefore, for the night, and
 then send him to Penelope to tell her that you have got back safe from
 Pylos ." 

 
 Then she went back to Olympus ; but Telemakhos stirred Peisistratos
 with his heel to rouse him, and said, "Wake up Peisistratos, and yoke the
 horses to the chariot, for we must set off home." 

 
 But Peisistratos said, "No matter what hurry we
 are in we cannot drive in the dark. It will be morning soon; wait till Menelaos
 has brought his presents and put them in the chariot for us; and let him say
 good-bye to us in the usual way. So long as he lives a guest should never
 forget a host who has shown him kindness."

As he spoke day began to break, and Menelaos,
 who had already risen, leaving Helen in bed, came towards them. When Telemakhos
 saw him he put on his shirt as fast as he could, threw a great cloak over his
 shoulders, and went out to meet him. "Menelaos," said he, "let me go back now
 to my own country, for I want to get home [ nostos ]." 

 
 And Menelaos answered, "Telemakhos, if you
 insist on going I will not detain you. I do not like to see a host either too
 fond of his guest or too rude to him. Moderation is best in all things, and not
 letting a man go when he wants to do so is as bad as telling him to go if he
 would like to stay. One should treat a guest well as long as he is in the house
 and speed him when he wants to leave it. Wait, then, till I can get your
 beautiful presents into your chariot, and till you have yourself seen them. I
 will tell the women to prepare a sufficient dinner for you of what there may be
 in the house; it will be at once more proper and cheaper for you to get your
 dinner before setting out on such a long journey. If, moreover, you have a
 fancy for making a tour in Hellas or
 in the Peloponnese , I will yoke my
 horses, and will conduct you myself through all our principal cities. No one
 will send us away empty handed; every one will give us something - a bronze
 tripod, a couple of mules, or a gold cup." 

 
 "Menelaos," replied Telemakhos, "I want to go
 home at once, for when I came away I left my property without protection, and
 fear that while looking for my father I shall come to ruin myself, or find that
 something valuable has been stolen during my absence." 

 
 When Menelaos heard this he immediately told his
 wife and servants to prepare a sufficient dinner from what there might be in
 the house. At this moment Eteoneus joined him, for he lived close by and had
 just got up; so Menelaos told him to light the fire and cook some meat, which
 he at once did. Then Menelaos went down into his fragrant store room, not
 alone, but Helen went too, with Megapenthes. When he reached the place where
 the treasures of his house were kept, he selected a double cup, and told his
 son Megapenthes to bring also a silver mixing-bowl. Meanwhile Helen went to the
 chest where she kept the lovely dresses which she had made with her own hands,
 and took out one that was largest and most beautifully enriched with
 embroidery; it glittered like a star, and lay at the very bottom of the chest.
 Then they all came back through the house again till they got to Telemakhos,
 and Menelaos said, "Telemakhos, may Zeus, the mighty husband of Hera, bring you
 safely home [ nostos ] according to your desire. I
 will now present you with the finest and most precious piece of plate in all my
 house. It is a mixing-bowl of pure silver, except the rim, which is inlaid with
 gold, and it is the work of Hephaistos. Phaidimos king of the Sidonians made me
 a present of it in the course of a visit that I paid him while I was on my
 return home. I should like to give it to you."

With these words he placed the double cup in
 the hands of Telemakhos, while Megapenthes brought the beautiful mixing-bowl
 and set it before him. Hard by stood lovely Helen with the robe ready in her
 hand. 

 
 "I too, my son," said she, "have something for
 you as a keepsake from the hand of Helen; it is for your bride to wear upon her
 wedding day [ hôra ]. Till then, get your dear mother
 to keep it for you; thus may you go back rejoicing to your own country and to
 your home." 

 
 So saying she gave the robe over to him and he
 received it gladly. Then Peisistratos put the presents into the chariot, and
 admired them all as he did so. Presently Menelaos took Telemakhos and
 Peisistratos into the house, and they both of them sat down to table. A maid
 servant brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer, and poured it into a
 silver basin for them to wash their hands, and she drew a clean table beside
 them; an upper servant brought them bread and offered them many good things of
 what there was in the house. Eteoneus carved the meat and gave them each their
 portions, while Megapenthes poured out the wine. Then they laid their hands
 upon the good things that were before them, but as soon as they had had enough
 to eat and drink Telemakhos and Peisistratos yoked the horses, and took their
 places in the chariot. They drove out through the inner gateway and under the
 echoing gatehouse of the outer court, and Menelaos came after them with a
 golden goblet of wine in his right hand that they might make a drink-offering
 before they set out. He stood in front of the horses and pledged them, saying,
 "Farewell to both of you; see that you tell Nestor how I have treated you, for
 he was as kind to me as any father could be while we Achaeans were fighting
 before Troy ." 

 
 "We will be sure, sir," answered Telemakhos,
 "to tell him everything as soon as we see him. I wish I were as certain of
 finding Odysseus returned when I get back to Ithaca , that I might tell him of the very great kindness you
 have shown me and of the many beautiful presents I am taking with me."

As he was thus speaking a bird flew on his
 right hand - an eagle with a great white goose in its talons which it had
 carried off from the farm yard - and all the men and women were running after
 it and shouting. It came quite close up to them and flew away on their right
 hands in front of the horses. When they saw it they were glad, and their hearts
 took comfort within them, whereon Peisistratos said, "Tell me, Menelaos, has
 heaven sent this omen for us or for you?" 

 
 Menelaos was thinking what would be the most
 proper answer for him to make, but Helen was too quick for him and said, "I
 will read this matter as heaven has put it in my heart, and as I doubt not that
 it will come to pass. The eagle came from the mountain where it was bred and
 has its nest, and in like manner Odysseus, after having traveled far and
 suffered much, will return to take his revenge - if indeed he is not back
 already and hatching mischief for the suitors." 

 
 "May Zeus so grant it," replied Telemakhos; "if
 it should prove to be so, I will make vows to you as though you were a god,
 even when I am at home." 

 
 As he spoke he lashed his horses and they
 started off at full speed through the town towards the open country. They
 swayed the yoke upon their necks and traveled the whole day long till the sun
 set and darkness was over all the land. Then they reached Pherai , where Diokles lived who was son of
 Ortilokhos, the son of Alpheus. There they passed the night and were treated
 hospitably. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, they again
 yoked their horses and their places in the chariot. They drove out through the
 inner gateway and under the echoing gatehouse of the outer court. Then
 Peisistratos lashed his horses on and they flew forward nothing loath; ere long
 they came to Pylos , and then
 Telemakhos said:

"Peisistratos, I hope you will promise to do
 what I am going to ask you. You know our fathers were old friends before us;
 moreover, we are both of an age, and this journey has brought us together still
 more closely; do not, therefore, take me past my ship, but leave me there, for
 if I go to your father's house he will try to keep me in the warmth of his good
 will towards me, and I must go home at once." 

 
 Peisistratos thought how he should do as he was
 asked, and in the end he deemed it best to turn his horses towards the ship,
 and put Menelaos’ beautiful presents of gold and raiment in the stern of the
 vessel. Then he said, "Go on board at once and tell your men to do so also
 before I can reach home to tell my father. I know how obstinate he is, and am
 sure he will not let you go; he will come down here to fetch you, and he will
 not go back without you. But he will be very angry." 

 
 With this he drove his goodly steeds back to
 the city of the Pylians and soon reached his home, but Telemakhos called the
 men together and gave his orders. "Now, my men," said he, "get everything in
 order on board the ship, and let us set out home." 

 
 Thus did he speak, and they went on board even
 as he had said. But as Telemakhos was thus busied, praying also and sacrificing
 to Athena in the ship's stern, there came to him a man from a distant dêmos , a seer [ mantis ],
 who was fleeing from Argos because
 he had killed a man. He was descended from Melampos, who used to live in
 Pylos , the land of sheep; he was
 rich and owned a great house, but he was driven into exile by the great and
 powerful king Neleus. Neleus seized violently [ biê ]
 his goods and held them for a whole year, during which he was a close prisoner
 in the house of king Phylakos, and in much distress of mind both on account of
 the daughter of Neleus and because he was haunted by a great sorrow [ atê ] that dread Erinyes had laid upon him. In the end,
 however, he escaped with his life, drove the cattle from Phylake to Pylos , avenged the wrong that had been done
 him, and gave the daughter of Neleus to his brother. Then he left the dêmos and went to Argos , where it was ordained that he should reign over many
 people. There he married, established himself, and had two famous sons
 Antiphates and Mantios. Antiphates became father of Oikleus, and Oikleus of
 Amphiaraos, who was dearly loved both by Zeus and by Apollo, but he did not
 live to old age, for he was killed in Thebes by reason of a woman's gifts. His sons were Alkmaion and
 Amphilokhos. Mantios, the other son of Melampos, was father to Polypheides and
 Kleitos. Aurora, throned in gold, carried off Kleitos for his beauty's sake,
 that he might dwell among the immortals, but Apollo made Polypheides the
 greatest seer [ mantis ] in the whole world now that
 Amphiaraos was dead. He quarreled with his father and went to live in
 Hyperesia , where he remained
 and prophesied for all men.

His son, Theoklymenos, it was who now came up
 to Telemakhos as he was making drink-offerings and praying in his ship.
 "Friend’" said he, "now that I find you sacrificing in this place, I beseech
 you by your sacrifices themselves, and by the daimôn to whom you make them, I pray you also by your own head and
 by those of your followers, tell me the truth and nothing but the truth. Who
 and whence are you? Tell me also of your town and parents." 

 
 Telemakhos said, "I will answer you quite
 truly. I am from Ithaca , and my father
 is ‘Odysseus, as surely as that he ever lived. But he has come to some
 miserable end. Therefore I have taken this ship and got my crew together to see
 if I can hear any news of him, for he has been away a long time." 

 
 "I too," answered Theoklymenos, am an exile,
 for I have killed a man of my own race. He has many brothers and kinsmen in
 Argos , and they have great power
 among the Argives. I am fleeing to escape death at their hands, and am thus
 doomed to be a wanderer on the face of the earth. I am your suppliant; take me,
 therefore, on board your ship that they may not kill me, for I know they are in
 pursuit." 

 
 "I will not refuse you," replied Telemakhos,
 "if you wish to join us. Come, therefore, and in Ithaca we will treat you hospitably according to what we
 have."

On this he received Theoklymenos’ spear and
 laid it down on the deck of the ship. He went on board and sat in the stern,
 bidding Theoklymenos sit beside him; then the men let go the hawsers.
 Telemakhos told them to catch hold of the ropes, and they made all haste to do
 so. They set the mast in its socket in the cross plank, raised it and made it
 fast with the forestays, and they hoisted their white sails with sheets of
 twisted ox hide. Athena sent them a fair wind that blew fresh and strong to
 take the ship on her course as fast as possible. Thus then they passed by
 Krounoi and Khalkis . 

 
 Presently the sun set and darkness was over all
 the land. The vessel made a quick passage to Pherai and thence on to Elis , where the Epeans rule. Telemakhos then headed her for the
 flying islands, wondering within himself whether he should escape death or
 should be taken prisoner. 

 
 Meanwhile Odysseus and the swineherd were
 eating their supper in the hut, and the men supped with them. As soon as they
 had had to eat and drink, Odysseus began trying to prove the swineherd and see
 whether he would continue to treat him kindly, and ask him to stay on at the
 station or pack him off to the city; so he said: 

 
 "Eumaios, and all of you, tomorrow I want to go
 away and begin begging about the town, so as to be no more trouble to you or to
 your men. Give me your advice therefore, and let me have a good guide to go
 with me and show me the way. I will go the round of the city begging as I needs
 must, to see if any one will give me a drink and a piece of bread. I should
 like also to go to the house of Odysseus and bring news of her husband to queen
 Penelope. I could then go about among the suitors and see if out of all their
 abundance they will give me a dinner. I should soon make them an excellent
 servant in all sorts of ways. Listen and believe when I tell you that by the
 blessing of Hermes who gives grace [ kharis ] and
 good name to the works of all men, there is no one living who would make a more
 handy servant than I should - to put fresh wood on the fire, chop fuel, carve,
 cook, pour out wine, and do all those services that poor men have to do for
 their betters."

The swineherd was very much disturbed when he
 heard this. "Heaven help me," he exclaimed, "what ever can have put such a
 notion as that into your head? If you go near the suitors you will be undone to
 a certainty, for their overweening pride [ hubris ]
 and violent insolence [ biê ] reach the very heavens.
 They would never think of taking a man like you for a servant. Their servants
 are all young men, well dressed, wearing good cloaks and shirts, with well
 looking faces and their hair always tidy, the tables are kept quite clean and
 are loaded with bread, meat, and wine. Stay where you are, then; you are not in
 anybody's way; I do not mind your being here, no more do any of the others, and
 when Telemakhos comes home he will give you a shirt and cloak and will send you
 wherever you want to go." 

 
 Odysseus answered, "I hope you may be as dear
 to the gods as you are to me, for having saved me from going about and getting
 into trouble; there is nothing worse than being always ways on the tramp;
 still, when men have once got low down in the world they will go through a
 great deal on behalf of their miserable bellies. Since however you press me to
 stay here and await the return of Telemakhos, tell about Odysseus’ mother, and
 his father whom he left on the threshold of old age when he set out for
 Troy . Are they still living or are
 they already dead and in the house of Hades?" 

 
 "I will tell you all about them," replied
 Eumaios, " Laertes is still living
 and prays heaven to let him depart peacefully his own house, for he is terribly
 distressed about the absence of his son, and also about the death of his wife,
 which grieved him greatly and aged him more than anything else did. She came to
 an unhappy end through sorrow for her son: may no friend or neighbor who has
 dealt kindly by me come to such an end as she did. As long as she was still
 living, though she was always grieving, I used to like seeing her and asking
 her how she did, for she brought me up along with her daughter Ktimene, the
 youngest of her children; we were boy and girl together, and she made little
 difference between us. When, however, we both grew up, they sent Ktimene to
 Same and received a splendid dowry for her. As for me, my mistress gave me a
 good shirt and cloak with a pair of sandals for my feet, and sent me off into
 the country, but she was just as fond of me as ever. This is all over now.
 Still it has pleased heaven to prosper my work in the situation which I now
 hold. I have enough to eat and drink, and can find something for any
 respectable stranger who comes here; but there is no getting a kind word or
 deed out of my mistress, for the house has fallen into the hands of wicked
 people. Servants want sometimes to see their mistress and have a talk with her;
 they like to have something to eat and drink at the house, and something too to
 take back with them into the country. This is what will keep servants in a good
 humor." 

 
 Odysseus answered, "Then you must have been a
 very little fellow, Eumaios, when you were taken so far away from your home and
 parents. Tell me, and tell me true, was the city in which your father and
 mother lived sacked and pillaged, or did some enemies carry you off when you
 were alone tending sheep or cattle, ship you off here, and sell you for
 whatever your master gave them?"

"Stranger," replied Eumaios, "as regards your
 question: sit still, make yourself comfortable, drink your wine, and listen to
 me. The nights are now at their longest; there is plenty of time both for
 sleeping and sitting up talking together; you ought not to go to bed till bed
 time [ hôra ], too much sleep is as bad as too
 little; if any one of the others wishes to go to bed let him leave us and do
 so; he can then take my master's pigs out when he has done breakfast in the
 morning. We two will sit here eating and drinking in the hut, and telling one
 another stories about our misfortunes; for when a man has suffered much, and
 been buffeted about in the world, he takes pleasure in recalling the memory of
 sorrows that have long gone by. As regards your question, then, my tale is as
 follows: 

 
 "You may have heard of an island called
 Syra that lies over above Ortygia,
 where the land begins to turn round and look in another direction. It is not
 very thickly peopled, but the soil is good, with much pasture fit for cattle
 and sheep, and it abounds with wine and wheat. Dearth never comes there, nor
 are the people [ dêmos ] plagued by any sickness, but
 when they grow old Apollo comes with Artemis and kills them with his painless
 shafts. It contains two communities, and the whole country is divided between
 these two. My father Ktesios son of Ormenus, a man comparable to the gods,
 reigned over both. 

 
 "Now to this place there came some cunning
 traders from Phoenicia (for the
 Phoenicians are great mariners) in a ship which they had freighted with
 trinkets of all kinds. There happened to be a Phoenician woman in my father's
 house, very tall and comely, and an excellent servant; these scoundrels got
 hold of her one day when she was washing near their ship, seduced her, and
 cajoled her in ways that no woman can resist, no matter how good she may be by
 nature. The man who had seduced her asked her who she was and where she came
 from, and on this she told him her father's name. ‘I come from Sidon ,’ said she, ‘and am daughter to Arybas,
 a man rolling in wealth. One day as I was coming into the town from the country
 some Taphian pirates seized me and took me here over the sea, where they sold
 me to the man who owns this house, and he gave them their price for me.’ 

 
 "The man who had seduced her then said, ‘Would
 you like to come along with us to see the house of your parents and your
 parents themselves? They are both alive and are said to be well off.’

"‘I will do so gladly,’ answered she, ‘if you
 men will first swear me a solemn oath that you will do me no harm by the
 way.’ 

 
 "They all swore as she told them, and when they
 had completed their oath the woman said, ‘Hush; and if any of your men meets me
 in the street or at the well, do not let him speak to me, for fear some one
 should go and tell my master, in which case he would suspect something. He
 would put me in prison, and would have all of you murdered; keep your own
 counsel therefore; buy your merchandise as fast as you can, and send me word
 when you have done loading. I will bring as much gold as I can lay my hands on,
 and there is something else also that I can do towards paying my fare. I am
 nurse to the son of the good man of the house, a funny little fellow just able
 to run about. I will carry him off in your ship, and you will get a great deal
 of wealth for him if you take him and sell him in foreign parts.’ 

 
 "On this she went back to the house. The
 Phoenicians stayed a whole year till they had loaded their ship with much
 precious merchandise, and then, when they had got freight enough, they sent to
 tell the woman. Their messenger, a very cunning fellow, came to my father's
 house bringing a necklace of gold with amber beads strung among it; and while
 my mother and the servants had it in their hands admiring it and bargaining
 about it, he made a sign quietly to the woman and then went back to the ship,
 whereon she took me by the hand and led me out of the house. In the fore part
 of the house she saw the tables set with the cups of guests who had been
 feasting with my father, as being in attendance on him; these were now all gone
 to a meeting of the population [ dêmos ] assembly, so
 she snatched up three cups and carried them off in the bosom of her dress,
 while I followed her, for I knew no better. The sun was now set, and darkness
 was over all the land, so we hurried on as fast as we could till we reached the
 harbor, where the Phoenician ship was lying. When they had got on board they
 sailed their ways over the sea, taking us with them, and Zeus sent then a fair
 wind; six days did we sail both night and day, but on the seventh day Artemis
 struck the woman and she fell heavily down into the ship's hold as though she
 were a sea gull alighting on the water; so they threw her overboard to the
 seals and fishes, and I was left all sorrowful and alone. Presently the winds
 and waves took the ship to Ithaca ,
 where Laertes gave sundry of his
 chattels for me, and thus it was that ever I came to set eyes upon this
 country." 

 
 Odysseus answered, "Eumaios, I have heard the
 story of your misfortunes with the most lively interest and pity, but Zeus has
 given you good as well as evil, for in spite of everything you have a good
 master, who sees that you always have enough to eat and drink; and you lead a
 good life, whereas I am still going about begging my way from city to
 city."

Thus did they converse, and they had only a
 very little time left for sleep, for it was soon daybreak. In the meantime
 Telemakhos and his crew were nearing land, so they loosed the sails, took down
 the mast, and rowed the ship into the harbor. They cast out their mooring
 stones and made fast the hawsers; they then got out upon the sea shore, mixed
 their wine, and got dinner ready. As soon as they had had enough to eat and
 drink Telemakhos said, "Take the ship on to the town, but leave me here, for I
 want to look after the herdsmen on one of my farms. In the evening, when I have
 seen all I want, I will come down to the city, and tomorrow morning in return
 for your trouble I will give you all a good dinner with meat and wine." 

 
 Then Theoklymenos said, ‘And what, my dear
 young friend, is to become of me? To whose house, among all your chief men, am
 I to repair? Or shall I go straight to your own house and to your mother?" 

 
 "At any other time," replied Telemakhos, "I
 should have bidden you go to my own house, for you would find no want of
 hospitality; at the present moment, however, you would not be comfortable
 there, for I shall be away, and my mother will not see you; she does not often
 show herself even to the suitors, but sits at her loom weaving in an upper
 chamber, out of their way; but I can tell you a man whose house you can go to -
 I mean Eurymakhos the son of Polybos, who is held in the highest estimation by
 every one in Ithaca . He is much the
 best man and the most persistent wooer, of all those who are paying court to my
 mother and trying to take Odysseus’ place. Zeus, however, in heaven alone knows
 whether or not they will come to a bad end before the marriage takes
 place." 

 
 As he was speaking a bird flew by upon his
 right hand - a hawk, Apollo's messenger. It held a dove in its talons, and the
 feathers, as it tore them off, fell to the ground midway between Telemakhos and
 the ship. On this Theoklymenos called him apart and caught him by the hand.
 "Telemakhos," said he, "that bird did not fly on your right hand without having
 been sent there by some god. As soon as I saw it I knew it was an omen; it
 means that you will remain powerful and that there will be no house in the
 dêmos of Ithaca more royal than your own."

"I wish it may prove so," answered Telemakhos.
 "If it does, I will show you so much good will and give you so many presents
 that all who meet you will congratulate you." 

 
 Then he said to his friend Peiraios, "Peiraios,
 son of Klytios, you have throughout shown yourself the most willing to serve me
 of all those who have accompanied me to Pylos ; I wish you would take this stranger to your own house
 and entertain him hospitably till I can come for him." 

 
 And Peiraios answered, "Telemakhos, you may
 stay away as long as you please, but I will look after him for you, and he
 shall find no lack of hospitality." 

 
 As he spoke he went on board, and bade the
 others do so also and loose the hawsers, so they took their places in the ship.
 But Telemakhos bound on his sandals, and took a long and doughty spear with a
 head of sharpened bronze from the deck of the ship. Then they loosed the
 hawsers, thrust the ship off from land, and made on towards the city as they
 had been told to do, while Telemakhos strode on as fast as he could, till he
 reached the homestead where his countless herds of swine were feeding, and
 where dwelt the excellent swineherd, who was so devoted a servant to his
 master.

Meanwhile Odysseus and the swineherd had lit a
 fire in the hut and were getting breakfast ready at daybreak for they had sent
 the men out with the pigs. When Telemakhos came up, the dogs did not bark, but
 fawned upon him, so Odysseus, hearing the sound of feet and noticing that the
 dogs did not bark, said to Eumaios: 

 
 "Eumaios, I hear footsteps; I suppose one of your
 men or some one of your acquaintance is coming here, for the dogs are fawning
 upon him and not barking." 

 
 The words were hardly out of his mouth before
 his son stood at the door. Eumaios sprang to his feet, and the bowls in which
 he was mixing wine fell from his hands, as he made towards his master. He
 kissed his head and both his beautiful eyes, and wept for joy. A father could
 not be more delighted at the return of an only son, the child of his old age,
 after ten years’ absence in a foreign country and after having gone through
 much hardship. He embraced him, kissed him all over as though he had come back
 from the dead, and spoke fondly to him saying: 

 
 "So you are come, Telemakhos, light of my eyes
 that you are. When I heard you had gone to Pylos I made sure I was never going to see you any more. Come
 in, my dear child, and sit down, that I may have a good look at you now you are
 home again; it is not very often you come into the country to see us herdsmen;
 you stick pretty close to the town generally. I suppose you think it better to
 keep an eye on what the suitors are doing."

"So be it, old friend," answered Telemakhos,
 "but I am come now because I want to see you, and to learn whether my mother is
 still at her old home or whether some one else has married her, so that the bed
 of Odysseus is without bedding and covered with cobwebs." 

 
 "She is still at the house," replied Eumaios,
 "grieving and breaking her heart, and doing nothing but weep, both night and
 day continually." 

 
 As spoke he took Telemakhos’ spear, whereon he
 crossed the stone threshold and came inside. Odysseus rose from his seat to
 give him place as he entered, but Telemakhos checked him; "Sit down, stranger."
 said he, "I can easily find another seat, and there is one here who will lay it
 for me." 

 
 Odysseus went back to his own place, and Eumaios
 strewed some green brushwood on the floor and threw a sheepskin on top of it
 for Telemakhos to sit upon. Then the swineherd brought them platters of cold
 meat, the remains from what they had eaten the day before, and he filled the
 bread baskets with bread as fast as he could. He mixed wine also in bowls of
 ivy-wood, and took his seat facing Odysseus. Then they laid their hands on the
 good things that were before them, and as soon as they had had enough to eat
 and drink Telemakhos said to Eumaios, "Old friend, where does this stranger
 come from? How did his crew bring him to Ithaca , and who were they?-for assuredly he did not come here
 by land"’

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaios, "My
 son, I will tell you the real truth [ alêthês ]. He
 says he is a Cretan, and that he has been a great traveler. At this moment he
 is running away from a Thesprotian ship, and has refuge at my station, so I
 will put him into your hands. Do whatever you like with him, only remember that
 he is your suppliant." 

 
 "I am very much distressed," said Telemakhos,
 "by what you have just told me. How can I take this stranger into my house? I
 am as yet young, and am not strong enough to hold my own if any man attacks me.
 My mother cannot make up her mind whether to stay where she is and look after
 the house out of respect for public [ dêmos ] opinion
 and the memory of her husband, or whether the time is now come for her to take
 the best man of those who are wooing her, and the one who will make her the
 most advantageous offer; still, as the stranger has come to your station I will
 find him a cloak and shirt of good wear, with a sword and sandals, and will
 send him wherever he wants to go. Or if you like you can keep him here at the
 station, and I will send him clothes and food that he may be no burden on you
 and on your men; but I will not have him go near the suitors, for they are very
 insolent [ hubris ], and are sure to ill-treat him in
 a way that would greatly grieve [ akhos ] me; no
 matter how valiant a man may be he can do nothing against numbers, for they
 will be too strong for him." 

 
 Then Odysseus said, "Sir, it is right that I
 should say something myself. I am much shocked about what you have said about
 the insolent way in which the suitors are behaving in despite of such a man as
 you are. Tell me, do you submit to such treatment tamely, or do the people of
 your dêmos , following the voice of some god, hate
 [ ekhthros ] you? May you not complain of your
 brothers - for it is to these that a man may look for support, however great
 his quarrel may be? I wish I were as young as you are and in my present mind;
 if I were son to Odysseus, or, indeed, Odysseus himself, I would rather some
 one came and cut my head off, but I would go to the house and be the bane of
 every one of these men. If they were too many for me - I being single-handed -
 I would rather die fighting in my own house than see such disgraceful sights
 day after day, strangers grossly maltreated, and men dragging the women
 servants about the house in an unseemly way, wine drawn recklessly, and bread
 wasted all to no purpose for an end that shall never be accomplished." 

 
 And Telemakhos answered, "I will tell you truly
 everything. There is no enmity between me and my dêmos , nor can I complain of brothers, to whom a man may look for
 support however great his quarrel may be. Zeus has made us a race of only sons.
 Laertes was the only son of
 Arceisius, and Odysseus only son of Laertes . I am myself the only son of Odysseus who left me
 behind him when he went away, so that I have never been of any use to him.
 Hence it comes that my house is in the hands of numberless marauders; for the
 chiefs from all the neighboring islands, Dulichium, Same, Zacynthus , as also all the principal men of
 Ithaca itself, are eating up my
 house under the pretext of paying court to my mother, who will neither say
 point blank that she will not marry, nor yet bring matters to an end, so they
 are making havoc of my estate, and before long will do so with myself into the
 bargain. The issue, however, rests with heaven. But do you, old friend Eumaios,
 go at once and tell Penelope that I am safe and have returned from Pylos . Tell it to herself alone, and then
 come back here without letting any one else know, for there are many who are
 plotting mischief against me."

"I understand and heed you," replied Eumaios;
 "you need instruct me no further, only I am going that way say whether I had
 not better let poor Laertes know
 that you are returned. He used to superintend the work on his farm in spite of
 his bitter sorrow about Odysseus, and he would eat and drink at will along with
 his servants; but they tell me that from the day on which you set out for
 Pylos he has neither eaten nor
 drunk as he ought to do, nor does he look after his farm, but sits weeping and
 wasting the flesh from off his bones." 

 
 "More's the pity," answered Telemakhos, "I am
 sorry for him, but we must leave him to himself just now. If people could have
 everything their own way, the first thing I should choose would be the return
 of my father; but go, and give your message; then make haste back again, and do
 not turn out of your way to tell Laertes . Tell my mother to send one of her women secretly with
 the news at once, and let him hear it from her." 

 
 Thus did he urge the swineherd; Eumaios,
 therefore, took his sandals, bound them to his feet, and started for the town.
 Athena watched him well off the station, and then came up to it in the form of
 a woman - fair, stately, and wise. She stood against the side of the entry, and
 revealed herself to Odysseus, but Telemakhos could not see her, and knew not
 that she was there, for the gods do not let themselves be seen by everybody.
 Odysseus saw her, and so did the dogs, for they did not bark, but went scared
 and whining off to the other side of the yards. She nodded her head and
 motioned to Odysseus with her eyebrows; whereon he left the hut and stood
 before her outside the main wall of the yards. Then she said to him: 

 
 "Odysseus, noble son of Laertes , it is now time for you to tell
 your son: do not keep him in the dark any longer, but lay your plans for the
 destruction of the suitors, and then make for the town. I will not be long in
 joining you, for I too am eager for the fray."

As she spoke she touched him with her golden
 wand. First she threw a fair clean shirt and cloak about his shoulders; then
 she made him younger and of more imposing presence; she gave him back his
 color, filled out his cheeks, and let his beard become dark again. Then she
 went away and Odysseus came back inside the hut. His son was astounded when he
 saw him, and turned his eyes away for fear he might be looking upon a god. 

 
 "Stranger," said he, "how suddenly you have
 changed from what you were a moment or two ago. You are dressed differently and
 your color is not the same. Are you some one or other of the gods that live in
 heaven? If so, be propitious to me till I can make you due sacrifice and
 offerings of wrought gold. Have mercy upon me." 

 
 And Odysseus said, "I am no god, why should you
 take me for one? I am your father, on whose account you grieve and suffer so
 much at the hands of violent [ biê ] men." 

 
 As he spoke he kissed his son, and a tear fell
 from his cheek on to the ground, for he had restrained all tears till now. but
 Telemakhos could not yet believe that it was his father, and said:

"You are not my father, but some daimôn is flattering me with vain hopes that I may
 grieve the more hereafter; no mortal man could of himself contrive with his
 noos to do as you have been doing, and make
 yourself old and young at a moment's notice, unless a god were with him. A
 second ago you were old and all in rags, and now you are like some god come
 down from heaven." 

 
 Odysseus answered, "Telemakhos, you ought not
 to be so immeasurably astonished at my being really here. There is no other
 Odysseus who will come hereafter. Such as I am, it is I, who after long
 wandering and much hardship have got home in the twentieth year to my own
 country. What you wonder at is the work of the redoubtable goddess Athena, who
 does with me whatever she will, for she can do what she pleases. At one moment
 she makes me like a beggar, and the next I am a young man with good clothes on
 my back; it is an easy matter for the gods who live in heaven to make any man
 look either rich or poor." 

 
 As he spoke he sat down, and Telemakhos threw
 his arms about his father and wept. They were both so much moved that they
 cried aloud like eagles or vultures with crooked talons that have been robbed
 of their half fledged young by peasants. Thus piteously did they weep, and the
 sun would have gone down upon their mourning if Telemakhos had not suddenly
 said, "In what ship, my dear father, did your crew bring you to Ithaca ? Of what nation did they declare
 themselves to be - for you cannot have come by land?" 

 
 "I will tell you the truth [ alêtheia ], my son," replied Odysseus. "It was the
 Phaeacians who brought me here. They are great sailors, and are in the habit of
 giving escorts to any one who reaches their coasts. They took me over the sea
 while I was fast asleep, and landed me in Ithaca , after giving me many presents in bronze, gold, and
 raiment. These things by heaven's mercy are lying concealed in a cave, and I am
 now come here on the suggestion of Athena that we may consult about killing our
 enemies. First, therefore, give me a list of the suitors, with their number,
 that I may learn who, and how many, they are. I can then turn the matter over
 in my mind, and see whether we two can fight the whole body of them ourselves,
 or whether we must find others to help us."

To this Telemakhos answered, "Father, I have
 always heard of your renown [ kleos ] both in the
 field and in council, but the task you talk of is a very great one: I am awed
 at the mere thought of it; two men cannot stand against many and brave ones.
 There are not ten suitors only, nor twice ten, but ten many times over; you
 shall learn their number at once. There are fifty-two chosen [ krînô ] youths from Dulichium, and they have six
 servants; from Same there are twenty-four; twenty young Achaeans from
 Zacynthus , and twelve from
 Ithaca itself, all of them well
 born. They have with them a servant Medon, a bard, and two men who can carve at
 table. If we face such numbers as this, you may have bitter cause to rue your
 coming, and your violent revenge [ biê ]. See whether
 you cannot think of some one who would be willing to come and help us." 

 
 "Listen to me," replied Odysseus, "and think
 whether Athena and her father Zeus may seem sufficient, or whether I am to try
 and find some one else as well." 

 
 "Those whom you have named," answered
 Telemakhos, "are a couple of good allies, for though they dwell high up among
 the clouds they have power over both gods and men." 

 
 "These two," continued Odysseus, "will not keep
 long out of the fray, when the suitors and we join fight in my house. Now,
 therefore, return home early tomorrow morning, and go about among the suitors
 as before. Later on the swineherd will bring me to the city disguised as a
 miserable old beggar. If you see them ill-treating me, steel your heart against
 my sufferings; even though they drag me feet foremost out of the house, or
 throw things at me, look on and do nothing beyond gently trying to make them
 behave more reasonably; but they will not listen to you, for the day of their
 reckoning is at hand. Furthermore I say, and lay my saying to your heart, when
 Athena shall put it in my mind, I will nod my head to you, and on seeing me do
 this you must collect all the armor that is in the house and hide it in the
 strong store room. Make some excuse when the suitors ask you why you are
 removing it; say that you have taken it to be out of the way of the smoke,
 inasmuch as it is no longer what it was when Odysseus went away, but has become
 soiled and begrimed with soot. Add to this more particularly that you are
 afraid Zeus may set them on to quarrel over their wine, and that they may do
 each other some harm which may disgrace both banquet and wooing, for the sight
 of arms sometimes tempts people to use them. But leave a sword and a spear
 apiece for yourself and me, and a couple oxhide shields so that we can snatch
 them up at any moment; Zeus and Athena will then soon quiet these people. There
 is also another matter; if you are indeed my son and my blood runs in your
 veins, let no one know that Odysseus is within the house - neither Laertes , nor yet the swineherd, nor any of
 the servants, nor even Penelope herself. Let you and me make trial the women
 alone, and let us also make trial of some other of the men servants, to see who
 is on our side and whose hand is against us."

"Father," replied Telemakhos, "you will come to
 know me by and by, and when you do you will find that I can keep your counsel.
 I do not think, however, the plan you propose will be a gain [ kerdos ] for either of us. Think it over. It will take
 us a long time to go the round of the farms and exploit the men, and all the
 time the suitors will be wasting your estate with impunity and without
 compunction. Prove the women by all means, to see who are disloyal and who
 guiltless, but I am not in favor of going round and trying the men. We can
 attend to that later on, if you really have some sign from Zeus that he will
 support you." 

 
 Thus did they converse, and meanwhile the ship
 which had brought Telemakhos and his crew from Pylos had reached the town of Ithaca . When they had come inside the harbor they drew the ship
 on to the land; their servants came and took their armor from them, and they
 left all the presents at the house of Klytios. Then they sent a servant to tell
 Penelope that Telemakhos had gone into the country, but had sent the ship to
 the town to prevent her from being alarmed and made unhappy. This servant and
 Eumaios happened to meet when they were both on the same errand of going to
 tell Penelope. When they reached the House, the servant stood up and said to
 the queen in the presence of the waiting women, "Your son, my lady, is now
 returned from Pylos "; but Eumaios
 went close up to Penelope, and said privately that her son had given bidden him
 tell her. When he had given his message he left the house with its outbuildings
 and went back to his pigs again. 

 
 The suitors were surprised and angry at what
 had happened, so they went outside the great wall that ran round the outer
 court, and held a council near the main entrance. Eurymakhos, son of Polybos,
 was the first to speak. 

 
 "My friends," said he, "this voyage of
 Telemakhos’ is a very serious matter; we had made sure that it would come to
 nothing. Now, however, let us draw a ship into the water, and get a crew
 together to send after the others and tell them to come back as fast as they
 can."

He had hardly done speaking when Amphinomos
 turned in his place and saw the ship inside the harbor, with the crew lowering
 her sails, and putting by their oars; so he laughed, and said to the others,
 "We need not send them any message, for they are here. Some god must have told
 them, or else they saw the ship go by, and could not overtake her. 

 
 On this they rose and went to the water side.
 The crew then drew the ship on shore; their servants took their armor from
 them, and they went up in a body to the place of assembly, but they would not
 let any one old or young sit along with them, and Antinoos, son of Eupeithes,
 spoke first. 

 
 "Good heavens," said he, "see how the gods have
 saved this man from destruction. We kept a succession of scouts upon the
 headlands all day long, and when the sun was down we never went on shore to
 sleep, but waited in the ship all night till morning in the hope of capturing
 and killing him; but some daimôn has conveyed him
 home in spite of us. Let us consider how we can make an end of him. He must not
 escape us; our affair is never likely to come off while is alive, for he is
 very shrewd in noos , and public feeling is by no
 means all on our side. We must make haste before he can call the Achaeans in
 assembly; he will lose no time in doing so, for he will be furious with us, and
 will tell all the world how we plotted to kill him, but failed to take him. The
 people will not like this when they come to know of it; we must see that they
 do us no hurt, nor drive us from our own dêmos into
 exile. Let us try and lay hold of him either on his farm away from the town, or
 on the road hither. Then we can divide up his property amongst us, and let his
 mother and the man who marries her have the house. If this does not please you,
 and you wish Telemakhos to live on and hold his father's property, then we must
 not gather here and eat up his goods in this way, but must make our offers to
 Penelope each from his own house, and she can marry the man who will give the
 most for her, and whose lot it is to win her." 

 
 They all held their peace until Amphinomos rose
 to speak. He was the son of Nisus, who was son to king Aretias, and he was
 foremost among all the suitors from the wheat-growing and well grassed island
 of Dulichium; his conversation, moreover, was more agreeable to Penelope than
 that of any of the other for he was a man of good natural disposition. "My
 friends," said he, speaking to them plainly and in all honestly, "I am not in
 favor of killing Telemakhos. It is a heinous thing to kill one who is of noble
 blood. Let us first take counsel of the gods, and if the oracles of Zeus advise
 it, I will both help to kill him myself, and will urge everyone else to do so;
 but if they dissuade us, I would have you hold your hands."

Thus did he speak, and his words pleased them
 well, so they rose forthwith and went to the house of Odysseus where they took
 their accustomed seats. 

 
 Then Penelope resolved that she would show
 herself to the outrageous [ hubris ] suitors. She
 knew of the plot against Telemakhos, for the servant Medon had overheard their
 counsels and had told her; she went down therefore to the court attended by her
 maidens, and when she reached the suitors she stood by one of the bearing-posts
 supporting the roof of the room holding a veil before her face, and rebuked
 Antinoos saying: 

 
 "Antinoos, insolent [ hubris ] and wicked schemer, they say you are the best speaker and
 counselor of any man your own age in the dêmos of
 Ithaca , but you are nothing of the
 kind. Madman, why should you try to compass the death of Telemakhos, and take
 no heed of suppliants, whose witness is Zeus himself? It is not right for you
 to plot thus against one another. Do you not remember how your father fled to
 this house in fear of the people [ dêmos ], who were
 enraged against him for having gone with some Taphian pirates and plundered the
 Thesprotians who were at peace with us? They wanted to tear him in pieces and
 eat up everything he had, but Odysseus stayed their hands although they were
 infuriated, and now you devour his property without paying for it, and break my
 heart by wooing his wife and trying to kill his son. Leave off doing so, and
 stop the others also." 

 
 To this Eurymakhos son of Polybos answered,
 "Take heart, Queen Penelope daughter of Ikarios, and do not trouble yourself
 about these matters. The man is not yet born, nor never will be, who shall lay
 hands upon your son Telemakhos, while I yet live to look upon the face of the
 earth. I say - and it shall surely be - that my spear shall be reddened with
 his blood; for many a time has Odysseus taken me on his knees, held wine up to
 my lips to drink, and put pieces of meat into my hands. Therefore Telemakhos is
 much the dearest friend I have, and has nothing to fear from the hands of us
 suitors. Of course, if death comes to him from the gods, he cannot escape it."
 He said this to quiet her, but in reality he was plotting against
 Telemakhos.

Then Penelope went upstairs again and mourned
 her husband till Athena shed sleep over her eyes. In the evening Eumaios got
 back to Odysseus and his son, who had just sacrificed a young pig of a year old
 and were ready; helping one another to get supper ready; Athena therefore came
 up to Odysseus, turned him into an old man with a stroke of her wand, and clad
 him in his old clothes again, for fear that the swineherd might recognize him
 and not keep the secret, but go and tell Penelope. 

 
 Telemakhos was the first to speak. "So you have
 got back, Eumaios," said he. "What is the news [ kleos ] of the town? Have the suitors returned, or are they still
 waiting over yonder, to take me on my way home?" 

 
 "I did not think of asking about that," replied
 Eumaios, "when I was in the town. I thought I would give my message and come
 back as soon as I could. I met a man sent by those who had gone with you to
 Pylos , and he was the first to
 tell the new your mother, but I can say what I saw with my own eyes; I had just
 got on to the crest of the hill of Hermes above the town when I saw a ship
 coming into harbor with a number of men in her. They had many shields and
 spears, and I thought it was the suitors, but I cannot be sure." 

 
 On hearing this Telemakhos smiled to his
 father, but so that Eumaios could not see him.

Then, when they had finished their labor [ ponos ] and the meal was ready, they ate it, and every
 man had his full share so that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had
 enough to eat and drink, they laid down to rest and enjoyed the boon of sleep.

When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
 appeared, Telemakhos bound on his sandals and took a strong spear that suited
 his hands, for he wanted to go into the city. "Old friend," said he to the
 swineherd, "I will now go to the town and show myself to my mother, for she
 will never leave off grieving till she has seen me. As for this unfortunate
 stranger, take him to the town and let him beg there of any one who will give
 him a drink and a piece of bread. I have trouble enough of my own, and cannot
 be burdened with other people. If this makes him angry so much the worse for
 him, but I like to tell the truth [ alêthês ]." 

 
 Then Odysseus said, "Sir, I do not want to stay
 here; a beggar can always do better in town than country, for any one who likes
 can give him something. I am too old to care about remaining here at the beck
 and call of a master. Therefore let this man do as you have just told him, and
 take me to the town as soon as I have had a warm by the fire, and the day has
 got a little heat in it. My clothes are wretchedly thin, and this frosty
 morning I shall be perished with cold, for you say the city is some way
 off." 

 
 On this Telemakhos strode off through the yards,
 brooding his revenge upon the When he reached home he stood his spear against a
 bearing-post of the room, crossed the stone floor of the room itself, and went
 inside. 

 
 Nurse Eurykleia saw him long before any one else
 did. She was putting the fleeces on to the seats, and she burst out crying as
 she ran up to him; all the other maids came up too, and covered his head and
 shoulders with their kisses. Penelope came out of her room looking like Artemis
 or Aphrodite, and wept as she flung her arms about her son. She kissed his
 forehead and both his beautiful eyes, "Light of my eyes," she cried as she
 spoke fondly to him, "so you are come home again; I made sure I was never going
 to see you any more. To think of your having gone off to Pylos without saying anything about it or
 obtaining my consent. But come, tell me what you saw."

"Do not scold me, mother,’ answered Telemakhos,
 "nor vex me, seeing what a narrow escape I have had, but wash your face, change
 your dress, go upstairs with your maids, and promise full and sufficient
 hecatombs to all the gods if Zeus will only grant us our revenge upon the
 suitors. I must now go to the place of assembly to invite a stranger who has
 come back with me from Pylos . I sent
 him on with my crew, and told Peiraios to take him home and look after him till
 I could come for him myself." 

 
 She heeded her son's words, washed her face,
 changed her dress, and vowed full and sufficient hecatombs to all the gods if
 they would only grant her revenge upon the suitors. 

 
 Telemakhos went through, and out of, the
 cloisters spear in hand - not alone, for his two fleet dogs went with him.
 Athena endowed him with a presence of such divine comeliness [ kharis ] that all marveled at him as he went by, and
 the suitors gathered round him with fair words in their mouths and malice in
 their hearts; but he avoided them, and went to sit with Mentor, Antiphos, and
 Halitherses, old friends of his father's house, and they made him tell them all
 that had happened to him. Then Peiraios came up with Theoklymenos, whom he had
 escorted through the town to the place of assembly, whereon Telemakhos at once
 joined them. Peiraios was first to speak: "Telemakhos," said he, "I wish you
 would send some of your women to my house to take away the presents Menelaos
 gave you." 

 
 "We do not know, Peiraios," answered Telemakhos,
 "what may happen. If the suitors kill me in my own house and divide my property
 among them, I would rather you had the presents than that any of those people
 should get hold of them. If on the other hand I manage to kill them, I shall be
 much obliged if you will kindly bring me my presents."

With these words he took Theoklymenos to his own
 house. When they got there they laid their cloaks on the benches and seats,
 went into the baths, and washed themselves. When the maids had washed and
 anointed them, and had given them cloaks and shirts, they took their seats at
 table. A maid servant then brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer, and
 poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands; and she drew a
 clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them bread and offered them
 many good things of what there was in the house. Opposite them sat Penelope,
 reclining on a couch by one of the bearing-posts of the room, and spinning.
 Then they laid their hands on the good things that were before them, and as
 soon as they had had enough to eat and drink Penelope said: 

 
 "Telemakhos, I shall go upstairs and lie down
 on that sad couch, which I have not ceased to water with my tears, from the day
 Odysseus set out for Troy with the
 sons of Atreus. You failed, however, to make it clear to me before the suitors
 came back to the house, whether or not you had been able to hear anything about
 the return [ nostos ] of your father." 

 
 "I will tell you then truth [ alêtheia ]," replied her son. "We went to Pylos and saw Nestor, who took me to his
 house and treated me as hospitably as though I were a son of his own who had
 just returned after a long absence; so also did his sons; but he said he had
 not heard a word from any human being about Odysseus, whether he was alive or
 dead. He sent me, therefore, with a chariot and horses to Menelaos. There I saw
 Helen, for whose sake so many, both Argives and Trojans, were in heaven's
 wisdom doomed to suffer. Menelaos asked me what it was that had brought me to
 Lacedaemon , and I told him the
 whole truth [ alêtheia ], whereon he said, ‘So, then,
 these cowards would usurp a brave man's bed? A hind might as well lay her
 new-born young in the lair of a lion, and then go off to feed in the forest or
 in some grassy dell. The lion, when he comes back to his lair, will make short
 work with the pair of them, and so will Odysseus with these suitors. By father
 Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, if Odysseus is still the man that he was when he
 wrestled with Philomeleides in Lesbos ,
 and threw him so heavily that all the Greeks cheered him - if he is still such,
 and were to come near these suitors, they would have a swift doom and a sorry
 wedding. As regards your question, however, I will not prevaricate nor deceive
 you, but what the old man of the sea told me, so much will I tell you in full.
 He said he could see Odysseus on an island sorrowing bitterly in the house of
 the nymph Calypso, who was keeping him prisoner, and he could not reach his
 home, for he had no ships nor sailors to take him over the sea.’ This was what
 Menelaos told me, and when I had heard his story I came away; the gods then
 gave me a fair wind and soon brought me safe home again." 

 
 With these words he moved the heart of
 Penelope. Then Theoklymenos said to her:

"My lady, wife of Odysseus, Telemakhos does not
 understand these things; listen therefore to me, for I can divine them surely,
 and will hide nothing from you. May Zeus the king of heaven be my witness, and
 the rites of hospitality, with that hearth of Odysseus to which I now come,
 that Odysseus himself is even now in Ithaca , and, either going about the country or staying in one
 place, is inquiring into all these evil deeds and preparing a day of reckoning
 for the suitors. I saw an omen when I was on the ship which meant this, and I
 told Telemakhos about it." 

 
 "May it be even so," answered Penelope; "if
 your words come true, you shall have such gifts and such good will from me that
 all who see you shall congratulate you." 

 
 Thus did they converse. Meanwhile the suitors
 were throwing discs, or aiming with spears at a mark on the leveled ground in
 front of the house, and behaving with all their old insolence [ hubris ]. But when it was now time for dinner, and the
 flock of sheep and goats had come into the town from all the country round,
 with their shepherds as usual, then Medon, who was their favorite servant, and
 who waited upon them at table, said, "Now then, my young masters, you have had
 enough sport [ athlos ], so come inside that we may
 get dinner ready. Dinner is not a bad thing, at dinner time [ hôra ]." 

 
 They left their sports as he told them, and
 when they were within the house, they laid their cloaks on the benches and
 seats inside, and then sacrificed some sheep, goats, pigs, and a heifer, all of
 them fat and well grown. Thus they made ready for their meal. In the meantime
 Odysseus and the swineherd were about starting for the town, and the swineherd
 said, "Stranger, I suppose you still want to go to town to-day, as my master
 said you were to do; for my own part I should have liked you to stay here as a
 station hand, but I must do as my master tells me, or he will scold me later
 on, and a scolding from one's master is a very serious thing. Let us then be
 off, for it is now broad day; it will be night again directly and then you will
 find it colder."

"I know, and understand you," replied Odysseus;
 "you need say no more. Let us be going, but if you have a stick ready cut, let
 me have it to walk with, for you say the road is a very rough one." 

 
 As he spoke he threw his shabby old tattered
 wallet over his shoulders, by the cord from which it hung, and Eumaios gave him
 a stick to his liking. The two then started, leaving the station in charge of
 the dogs and herdsmen who remained behind; the swineherd led the way and his
 master followed after, looking like some broken-down old tramp as he leaned
 upon his staff, and his clothes were all in rags. When they had got over the
 rough steep ground and were nearing the city, they reached the fountain from
 which the citizens drew their water. This had been made by Ithacus, Neritus,
 and Polyktor. There was a grove of water-loving poplars planted in a circle all
 round it, and the clear cold water came down to it from a rock high up, while
 above the fountain there was an altar to the nymphs, at which all wayfarers
 used to sacrifice. Here Melanthios son of Dolios overtook them as he was
 driving down some goats, the best in his flock, for the suitors’ dinner, and
 there were two shepherds with him. When he saw Eumaios and Odysseus he reviled
 them with outrageous and unseemly language, which made Odysseus very angry. 

 
 "There you go," cried he, "and a precious pair
 you are. See how heaven brings birds of the same feather to one another. Where,
 pray, master swineherd, are you taking this poor miserable object? It would
 make any one sick to see such a creature at table. A fellow like this never won
 a prize for anything in his life, but will go about rubbing his shoulders
 against every man's door post, and begging, not for swords and cauldrons like a
 man, but only for a few scraps not worth begging for. If you would give him to
 me for a hand on my station, he might do to clean out the folds, or bring a bit
 of sweet feed to the kids, and he could fatten his thighs as much as he pleased
 on whey; but he has taken to bad ways and will not go about any kind of work;
 he will do nothing but beg victuals all the dêmos 
 over, to feed his insatiable belly. I say, therefore and it shall surely be -
 if he goes near Odysseus’ house he will get his head broken by the stools they
 will fling at him, till they turn him out." 

 
 On this, as he passed, he gave Odysseus a kick
 on the hip out of pure wantonness, but Odysseus stood firm, and did not budge
 from the path. For a moment he doubted whether or not to fly at Melanthios and
 kill him with his staff, or fling him to the ground and beat his brains out; he
 resolved, however, to endure it and keep himself in check, but the swineherd
 looked straight at Melanthios and rebuked him, lifting up his hands and praying
 to heaven as he did so.

"Fountain nymphs," he cried, "children of Zeus,
 if ever Odysseus burned you thigh bones covered with fat whether of lambs or
 kids, grant my prayer that a daimôn may send him
 home. He would soon put an end to the swaggering threats with which such men as
 you go about insulting people- gadding all over the town while your flocks are
 going to ruin through bad shepherding." 

 
 Then Melanthios the goatherd answered, "You
 ill-conditioned cur, what are you talking about? Some day or other I will put
 you on board ship and take you to a foreign country, where I can sell you and
 keep the wealth you will fetch. I wish I were as sure that Apollo would strike
 Telemakhos dead this very day, or that the suitors would kill him, as I am that
 Odysseus will never come home again." 

 
 With this he left them to come on at their
 leisure, while he went quickly forward and soon reached the house of his
 master. When he got there he went in and took his seat among the suitors
 opposite Eurymakhos, who liked him better than any of the others. The servants
 brought him a portion of meat, and an upper woman servant set bread before him
 that he might eat. Presently Odysseus and the swineherd came up to the house
 and stood by it, amid a sound of music, for Phemios was just beginning to sing
 to the suitors. Then Odysseus took hold of the swineherd's hand, and said: 

 
 "Eumaios, this house of Odysseus is a very fine
 place. No matter how far you go you will find few like it. One building keeps
 following on after another. The outer court has a wall with battlements all
 round it; the doors are double folding, and of good workmanship; it would be a
 hard matter to take it by force of arms. I perceive, too, that there are many
 people banqueting within it, for there is a smell of roast meat, and I hear a
 sound of music, which the gods have made to go along with feasting."

Then Eumaios said, "You have perceived aright,
 as indeed you generally do; but let us think what will be our best course. Will
 you go inside first and join the suitors, leaving me here behind you, or will
 you wait here and let me go in first? But do not wait long, or some one may you
 loitering about outside, and throw something at you. Consider this matter I
 pray you." 

 
 And Odysseus answered, "I understand and heed.
 Go in first and leave me here where I am. I am quite used to being beaten and
 having things thrown at me. I have been so much buffeted about in war and by
 sea that I am case-hardened, and this too may go with the rest. But a man
 cannot hide away the cravings of a hungry belly; this is an enemy which gives
 much trouble to all men; it is because of this that ships are fitted out to
 sail the seas, and to make war upon other people." 

 
 As they were thus talking, a dog that had been
 lying asleep raised his head and pricked up his ears. This was Argos, whom
 Odysseus had bred before setting out for Troy , but he had never had any work out of him. In the old days
 he used to be taken out by the young men when they went hunting wild goats, or
 deer, or hares, but now that his master was gone he was lying neglected on the
 heaps of mule and cow dung that lay in front of the stable doors till the men
 should come and draw it away to manure the great field; and he was full of
 fleas. As soon as he saw Odysseus standing there, he dropped his ears and
 wagged his tail, but he could not get close up to his master. When Odysseus saw
 the dog on the other side of the yard, dashed a tear from his eyes without
 Eumaios seeing it, and said: 

 
 "Eumaios, what a noble hound that is over
 yonder on the manure heap: his build is splendid; is he as fine a fellow as he
 looks, or is he only one of those dogs that come begging about a table, and are
 kept merely for show?"

"This hound," answered Eumaios, "belonged to
 him who has died in a far country. If he were what he was when Odysseus left
 for Troy , he would soon show you what
 he could do. There was not a wild beast in the forest that could get away from
 him when he was once on its tracks. But now he has fallen on evil times, for
 his master is dead and gone, and the women take no care of him. Servants never
 do their work when their master's hand is no longer over them, for Zeus takes
 half the goodness [ aretê ] out of a man when he
 makes a slave of him." 

 
 As he spoke he went inside the buildings to the
 room where the suitors were, but Argos died as soon as he had recognized his master. 

 
 Telemakhos saw Eumaios long before any one else
 did, and beckoned him to come and sit beside him; so he looked about and saw a
 seat lying near where the carver sat serving out their portions to the suitors;
 he picked it up, brought it to Telemakhos’ table, and sat down opposite him.
 Then the servant brought him his portion, and gave him bread from the
 bread-basket. 

 
 Immediately afterwards Odysseus came inside,
 looking like a poor miserable old beggar, leaning on his staff and with his
 clothes all in rags. He sat down upon the threshold of ash-wood just inside the
 doors leading from the outer to the inner court, and against a bearing-post of
 cypress-wood which the carpenter had skillfully planed, and had made to join
 truly with rule and line. Telemakhos took a whole loaf from the bread-basket,
 with as much meat as he could hold in his two hands, and said to Eumaios, "Take
 this to the stranger, and tell him to go the round of the suitors, and beg from
 them; a beggar must not be shamefaced [ aidôs ]."

So Eumaios went up to him and said, "Stranger,
 Telemakhos sends you this, and says you are to go the round of the suitors
 begging, for beggars must not be shamefaced [ aidôs ]." 

 
 Odysseus answered, "May lord Zeus grant all
 happiness [ olbos ] to Telemakhos, and fulfill the
 desire of his heart." 

 
 Then with both hands he took what Telemakhos
 had sent him, and laid it on the dirty old wallet at his feet. He went on
 eating it while the bard was singing, and had just finished his dinner as he
 left off. The suitors applauded the bard, whereon Athena went up to Odysseus
 and prompted him to beg pieces of bread from each one of the suitors, that he
 might see what kind of people they were, and tell the good from the bad; but
 come what might she was not going to save a single one of them. Odysseus,
 therefore, went on his round, going from left to right, and stretched out his
 hands to beg as though he were a real beggar. Some of them pitied him, and were
 curious about him, asking one another who he was and where he came from;
 whereon the goatherd Melanthios said, "Suitors of my noble mistress, I can tell
 you something about him, for I have seen him before. The swineherd brought him
 here, but I know nothing about the man himself, nor where he comes from." 

 
 On this Antinoos began to abuse the swineherd.
 "You precious idiot," he cried, "what have you brought this man to town for?
 Have we not tramps and beggars enough already to pester us as we sit at meat?
 Do you think it a small thing that such people gather here to waste your
 master's property and must you needs bring this man as well?"

And Eumaios answered, "Antinoos, your birth is
 good but your words evil. It was no doing of mine that he came here. Who is
 likely to invite a stranger from a foreign country, unless it be one of those
 who can do public service as a seer [ mantis ], a
 healer of hurts, a carpenter, or a bard who can delight us with his singing.
 Such men are welcome all the world over, but no one is likely to ask a beggar
 who will only worry him. You are always harder on Odysseus’ servants than any
 of the other suitors are, and above all on me, but I do not care so long as
 Telemakhos and Penelope are alive and here." 

 
 But Telemakhos said, "Hush, do not answer him;
 Antinoos has the bitterest tongue of all the suitors, and he makes the others
 worse." 

 
 Then turning to Antinoos he said, "Antinoos,
 you take as much care of my interests as though I were your son. Why should you
 want to see this stranger turned out of the house? Heaven forbid; take
 something and give it him yourself; I do not grudge it; I bid you take it.
 Never mind my mother, nor any of the other servants in the house; but I know
 you will not do what I say, for you are more fond of eating things yourself
 than of giving them to other people." 

 
 "What do you mean, Telemakhos," replied
 Antinoos, "by this swaggering talk? If all the suitors were to give him as much
 as I will, he would not come here again for another three months."

As he spoke he drew the stool on which he
 rested his dainty feet from under the table, and made as though he would throw
 it at Odysseus, but the other suitors all gave him something, and filled his
 wallet with bread and meat; he was about, therefore, to go back to the
 threshold and eat what the suitors had given him, but he first went up to
 Antinoos and said: 

 
 "Sir, give me something; you are not, surely,
 the poorest man here; you seem to be a chief, foremost among them all;
 therefore you should be the better giver, and I will tell far and wide of your
 bounty. I too was a rich [ olbios ] man once, and had
 a fine house of my own; in those days I gave to many a tramp such as I now am,
 no matter who he might be nor what he wanted. I had any number of servants, and
 all the other things which people have who live well and are accounted wealthy,
 but it pleased Zeus to take all away from me. He sent me with a band of roving
 robbers to Egypt ; it was a long voyage
 and I was undone by it. I stationed my ships in the river Aigyptos, and bade my
 men stay by them and keep guard over them, while I sent out scouts to
 reconnoiter from every point of vantage. 

 
 "But the men insolently disobeyed [ hubris ] my orders, took to their own devices, and
 ravaged the land of the Egyptians, killing the men, and taking their wives and
 children captives. The alarm was soon carried to the city, and when they heard
 the war-cry, the people came out at daybreak till the plain was filled with
 soldiers horse and foot, and with the gleam of armor. Then Zeus spread panic
 among my men, and they would no longer face the enemy, for they found
 themselves surrounded. The Egyptians killed many of us, and took the rest alive
 to do forced labor for them; as for myself, they gave me to a friend who met
 them, to take to Cyprus , Dmetor by
 name, son of Iasos, who was a great man in Cyprus . Thence I am come hither in a state of great
 misery." 

 
 Then Antinoos said, "What daimôn can have sent such a pestilence to plague us during our
 dinner? Get out, into the open part of the court, or I will give you Egypt and Cyprus over again for your insolence and importunity; you have
 begged of all the others, and they have given you lavishly, for they have
 abundance round them, and it is easy to be free with other people's property
 when there is plenty of it."

On this Odysseus began to move off, and said,
 "Your looks, my fine sir, are better than your breeding; if you were in your
 own house you would not spare a poor man so much as a pinch of salt, for though
 you are in another man's, and surrounded with abundance, you cannot find it in
 you to give him even a piece of bread." 

 
 This made Antinoos very angry, and he scowled
 at him saying, "You shall pay for this before you get clear of the court." With
 these words he threw a footstool at him, and hit him on the right
 shoulder-blade near the top of his back. Odysseus stood firm as a rock and the
 blow did not even stagger him, but he shook his head in silence as he brooded
 on his revenge. Then he went back to the threshold and sat down there, laying
 his well-filled wallet at his feet. 

 
 "Listen to me," he cried, "you suitors of Queen
 Penelope, that I may speak even as I am minded. A man knows neither ache [ akhos ] nor pain [ penthos ]
 if he gets hit while fighting for his wealth, or for his sheep or his cattle;
 and even so Antinoos has hit me while in the service of my miserable belly,
 which is always getting people into trouble. Still, if the poor have gods and
 avenging deities at all, I pray them that Antinoos may come to a bad end before
 his marriage." 

 
 "Sit where you are, and eat your victuals in
 silence, or be off elsewhere," shouted Antinoos. "If you say more I will have
 you dragged hand and foot through the courts, and the servants shall flay you
 alive."

The other suitors were much displeased at this,
 and one of the young men said, "Antinoos, you did ill in striking that poor
 wretch of a tramp: it will be worse for you if he should turn out to be some
 god - and we know the gods go about disguised in all sorts of ways as people
 from foreign countries, and travel about the world to see who do amiss [ hubris ] and who righteously." 

 
 Thus said the suitors, but Antinoos paid them
 no heed. Meanwhile Telemakhos was greatly distressed [ penthos ] about the blow that had been given to his father, and
 though no tear fell from him, he shook his head in silence and brooded on his
 revenge. 

 
 Now when Penelope heard that the beggar had
 been struck in the banqueting-room, she said before her maids, "Would that
 Apollo would so strike you, Antinoos," and her waiting woman Eurynome answered,
 "If our prayers were answered not one of the suitors would ever again see the
 sun rise." Then Penelope said, "Nurse, every single one of them is hateful
 [ ekhthroi ] to me, for they mean nothing but
 mischief, but I hate Antinoos like the darkness of death itself. A poor
 unfortunate tramp has come begging about the house for sheer want. Every one
 else has given him something to put in his wallet, but Antinoos has hit him on
 the right shoulder-blade with a footstool." 

 
 Thus did she talk with her maids as she sat in
 her own room, and in the meantime Odysseus was getting his dinner. Then she
 called for the swineherd and said, "Eumaios, go and tell the stranger to come
 here, I want to see him and ask him some questions. He seems to have traveled
 much, and he may have seen or heard something of my unhappy husband."

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaios, "If
 these Achaeans, my lady, would only keep quiet, you would be charmed with the
 history of his adventures. I had him three days and three nights with me in my
 hut, which was the first place he reached after running away from his ship, and
 he has not yet completed the story of his misfortunes. If he had been the most
 heaven-taught minstrel in the whole world, on whose lips all hearers hang
 entranced, I could not have been more charmed as I sat in my hut and listened
 to him. He says there is an old friendship between his house and that of
 Odysseus, and that he comes from Crete 
 where the descendants of Minos live, after having been driven here and there by
 every kind of misfortune; he also declares that he has heard of Odysseus as
 being alive and near at hand among the Thesprotians [ dêmos ], and that he is bringing great wealth home with him." 

 
 "Call him here, then," said Penelope, "that I
 too may hear his story. As for the suitors, let them take their pleasure
 indoors or out as they will, for they have nothing to fret about. Their grain
 and wine remain unwasted in their houses with none but servants to consume
 them, while they keep hanging about our house day after day sacrificing our
 oxen, sheep, and fat goats for their banquets, and never giving so much as a
 thought to the quantity of wine they drink. No estate can stand such
 recklessness, for we have now no Odysseus to protect us. If he were to come
 again, he and his son would soon have their violent revenge [ biê ]." 

 
 As she spoke Telemakhos sneezed so loudly that
 the whole house resounded with it. Penelope laughed when she heard this, and
 said to Eumaios, "Go and call the stranger; did you not hear how my son sneezed
 just as I was speaking? This can only mean that all the suitors are going to be
 killed, and that not one of them shall escape. Furthermore I say, and lay my
 saying to your heart: if I am satisfied that the stranger is speaking the truth
 I shall give him a shirt and cloak of good wear." 

 
 When Eumaios heard this he went straight to
 Odysseus and said, "Father stranger, my mistress Penelope, mother of
 Telemakhos, has sent for you; she is in great grief, but she wishes to hear
 anything you can tell her about her husband, and if she is satisfied that you
 are speaking the truth, she will give you a shirt and cloak, which are the very
 things that you are most in want of. As for bread, you can get enough of that
 to fill your belly, by begging about the dêmos , and
 letting those give that will."

"I will tell Penelope," answered Odysseus,
 "nothing but what is strictly true. I know all about her husband, and have been
 partner with him in affliction, but I am afraid of passing through this crowd
 of cruel suitors, for their overweening pride [ hubris ] and violent insolence [ biê ]
 reach heaven. Just now, moreover, as I was going about the house without doing
 any harm, a man gave me a blow that hurt me very much, but neither Telemakhos
 nor any one else defended me. Tell Penelope, therefore, to be patient and wait
 till sundown. Let her give me a seat close up to the fire, for my clothes are
 worn very thin - you know they are, for you have seen them ever since I first
 asked you to help me - she can then ask me about the return of her
 husband." 

 
 The swineherd went back when he heard this, and
 Penelope said as she saw him cross the threshold, "Why do you not bring him
 here, Eumaios? Is he afraid that some one will ill-treat him, or is he shy of
 coming inside the house at all? Beggars should not be shamefaced." 

 
 To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaios, "The
 stranger is quite reasonable. He is avoiding the outrageous [ hubris ] suitors, and is only doing what any one else
 would do. He asks you to wait till sundown, and it will be much better, my
 lady, that you should have him all to yourself, when you can hear him and talk
 to him as you will." 

 
 "The man is no fool," answered Penelope, "it
 would very likely be as he says, for there are no such abominable people in the
 whole world as these men are."

When she had done speaking Eumaios went back to
 the suitors, for he had explained everything. Then he went up to Telemakhos and
 said in his ear so that none could overhear him, "My dear sir, I will now go
 back to the pigs, to see after your property and my own business. You will look
 to what is going on here, but above all be careful to keep out of danger, for
 there are many who bear you ill will. May Zeus bring them to a bad end before
 they do us a mischief." 

 
 "Very well," replied Telemakhos, "go home when
 you have had your dinner, and in the morning come here with the victims we are
 to sacrifice for the day. Leave the rest to heaven and me." 

 
 On this Eumaios took his seat again, and when
 he had finished his dinner he left the courts and the room with the men at
 table, and went back to his pigs. As for the suitors, they presently began to
 amuse themselves with singing and dancing, for it was now getting on towards
 evening.

Now there came a certain common tramp who used to
 go begging all over the city of Ithaca , and was notorious as an incorrigible glutton and drunkard.
 This man had no strength [ biê ] nor stay in him, but
 he was a great hulking fellow to look at; his real name, the one his mother
 gave him, was Arnaios, but the young men of the place called him Iros, because
 he used to run errands for any one who would send him. As soon as he came he
 began to insult Odysseus, and to try and drive him out of his own house. 

 
 "Be off, old man," he cried, "from the doorway,
 or you shall be dragged out neck and heels. Do you not see that they are all
 giving me the wink, and wanting me to turn you out by force, only I do not like
 to do so? Get up then, and go of yourself, or we shall come to blows." 

 
 Odysseus frowned on him and said, "My friend, I
 do you no manner of harm; people give you a great deal, but I am not jealous.
 There is room enough in this doorway for the pair of us, and you need not
 grudge me things that are not yours to give. You seem to be just such another
 tramp as myself, but perhaps the gods will give us better luck [ olbos ] by and by. Do not, however, talk too much about
 fighting or you will incense me, and old though I am, I shall cover your mouth
 and chest with blood. I shall have more peace tomorrow if I do, for you will
 not come to the house of Odysseus any more." 

 
 Iros was very angry and answered, "You filthy
 glutton, you run on trippingly like an old fish-fag. I have a good mind to lay
 both hands about you, and knock your teeth out of your head like so many boar's
 tusks. Get ready, therefore, and let these people here stand by and look on.
 You will never be able to fight one who is so much younger than yourself."

Thus roundly did they rate one another on the
 smooth pavement in front of the doorway, and when Antinoos saw what was going
 on he laughed heartily and said to the others, "This is the finest sport that
 you ever saw; heaven never yet sent anything like it into this house. The
 stranger and Iros have quarreled and are going to fight, let us set them on to
 do so at once." 

 
 The suitors all came up laughing, and gathered
 round the two ragged tramps. "Listen to me," said Antinoos, "there are some
 goats’ paunches down at the fire, which we have filled with blood and fat, and
 set aside for supper; he who is victorious and proves himself to be the better
 man shall have his pick of the lot; he shall be free of our table and we will
 not allow any other beggar about the house at all." 

 
 The others all agreed, but Odysseus, to throw
 them off the scent, said, "Sirs, an old man like myself, worn out with
 suffering, cannot hold his own against a young one; but my irrepressible belly
 urges me on, though I know it can only end in my getting a drubbing. You must
 swear, however that none of you will give me a foul blow to favor Iros and
 secure him the victory." 

 
 They swore as he told them, and when they had
 completed their oath Telemakhos put in a word and said, "Stranger, if you have
 a mind to settle with this fellow, you need not be afraid of any one here.
 Whoever strikes you will have to fight more than one. I am host, and the other
 chiefs, Antinoos and Eurymakhos, both of them men of understanding, are of the
 same mind as I am."

Every one assented, and Odysseus girded his old
 rags about his loins, thus baring his stalwart thighs, his broad chest and
 shoulders, and his mighty arms; but Athena came up to him and made his limbs
 even stronger still. The suitors were beyond measure astonished, and one would
 turn towards his neighbor saying, "The stranger has brought such a thigh out of
 his old rags that there will soon be nothing left of Iros." 

 
 Iros began to be very uneasy as he heard them,
 but the servants girded him by force, and brought him into the open part of the
 court in such a fright that his limbs were all of a tremble. Antinoos scolded
 him and said, "You swaggering bully, you ought never to have been born at all
 if you are afraid of such an old broken-down creature as this tramp is. I say,
 therefore - and it shall surely be - if he beats you and proves himself the
 better man, I shall pack you off on board ship to the mainland and send you to
 king Echetos, who kills every one that comes near him. He will cut off your
 nose and ears, and draw out your entrails for the dogs to eat." 

 
 This frightened Iros still more, but they
 brought him into the middle of the court, and the two men raised their hands to
 fight. Then Odysseus considered whether he should let drive so hard at Iros as
 to make his psukhê leave him there and then as he
 fell, or whether he should give him a lighter blow that should only knock him
 down; in the end he deemed it best to give the lighter blow for fear the
 Achaeans should begin to suspect who he was. Then they began to fight, and Iros
 hit Odysseus on the right shoulder; but Odysseus gave Iros a blow on the neck
 under the ear that broke in the bones of his skull, and the blood came gushing
 out of his mouth; he fell groaning in the dust, gnashing his teeth and kicking
 on the ground, but the suitors threw up their hands and nearly died of
 laughter, as Odysseus caught hold of him by the foot and dragged him into the
 outer court as far as the gate-house. There he propped him up against the wall
 and put his staff in his hands. "Sit here," said he, "and keep the dogs and
 pigs off; you are a pitiful creature, and if you try to make yourself king of
 the beggars any more you shall fare still worse." 

 
 Then he threw his dirty old wallet, all
 tattered and torn, over his shoulder with the cord by which it hung, and went
 back to sit down upon the threshold; but the suitors went within the cloisters,
 laughing and saluting him, "May Zeus, and all the other gods," said they,
 ‘grant you whatever you want for having put an end to the importunity of this
 insatiable tramp. We will take him over to the mainland presently, to king
 Echetos, who kills every one that comes near him."

Odysseus hailed this as of good omen, and
 Antinoos set a great goat's paunch before him filled with blood and fat.
 Amphinomos took two loaves out of the bread-basket and brought them to him,
 pledging him as he did so in a golden goblet of wine. "Good luck to you," he
 said, "father stranger, you are very badly off at present, but I hope you will
 have better times [ olbos ] by and by." 

 
 To this Odysseus answered, "Amphinomos, you
 seem to be a man of good understanding, as indeed you may well be, seeing whose
 son you are. I have heard your father well spoken of [ kleos ]; he is Nisus of Dulichium, a man both brave and wealthy. They
 tell me you are his son, and you appear to be a considerable person; listen,
 therefore, and take heed to what I am saying. Man is the vainest of all
 creatures that have their being upon earth. As long as the gods grant him aretê and his knees are steady, he thinks that he
 shall come to no harm hereafter, and even when the blessed gods bring sorrow
 upon him, he bears it as he needs must, and makes the best of it; for the
 father of gods and men gives men their daily minds [ noos ] day by day. I know all about it, for I was a rich [ olbios ] man once, and did much wrong in the
 stubbornness [ biâ ] of my pride, and in the
 confidence that my father and my brothers would support me; therefore let a man
 be pious in all things always, and take the good that the gods may see fit to
 send him without vainglory. Consider the infamy of what these suitors are
 doing; see how they are wasting the estate, and doing dishonor to the wife, of
 one who is certain to return some day, and that, too, not long hence. Nay, he
 will be here soon; may a daimôn send you home
 quietly first that you may not meet with him in the day of his coming, for once
 he is here the suitors and he will not part bloodlessly." 

 
 With these words he made a drink-offering, and
 when he had drunk he put the gold cup again into the hands of Amphinomos, who
 walked away serious and bowing his head, for he foreboded evil. But even so he
 did not escape destruction, for Athena had doomed him fall by the hand of
 Telemakhos. So he took his seat again at the place from which he had come. 

 
 Then Athena put it into the mind of Penelope to
 show herself to the suitors, that she might make them still more enamored of
 her, and win still further honor from her son and husband. So she feigned a
 mocking laugh and said, "Eurynome, I have changed my and have a fancy to show
 myself to the suitors although I detest them. I should like also to give my son
 a hint that he had better not have anything more to do with them. They speak
 fairly enough but they mean mischief."

"My dear child," answered Eurynome, "all that
 you have said is true, go and tell your son about it, but first wash yourself
 and anoint your face. Do not go about with your cheeks all covered with tears;
 it is not right that you should grieve so incessantly; for Telemakhos, whom you
 always prayed that you might live to see with a beard, is already grown
 up." 

 
 "I know, Eurynome," replied Penelope, "that you
 mean well, but do not try and persuade me to wash and to anoint myself, for
 heaven robbed me of all my beauty on the day my husband sailed; nevertheless,
 tell Autonoe and Hippodameia that I want them. They must be with me when I am
 in the room; I am not going among the men alone; it would not be proper for me
 to do so." 

 
 On this the old woman went out of the room to
 bid the maids go to their mistress. In the meantime Athena bethought her of
 another matter, and sent Penelope off into a sweet slumber; so she lay down on
 her couch and her limbs became heavy with sleep. Then the goddess shed grace
 and beauty over her that all the Achaeans might admire her. She washed her face
 with the ambrosial loveliness that Aphrodite wears when she goes dancing [ khoros ] with the Graces; she made her taller and of a
 more commanding figure, while as for her complexion it was whiter than sawn
 ivory. When Athena had done all this she went away, whereon the maids came in
 from the women's room and woke Penelope with the sound of their talking. 

 
 "What an exquisitely delicious sleep I have
 been having," said she, as she passed her hands over her face, "in spite of all
 my misery. I wish Artemis would let me die so sweetly now at this very moment,
 that I might no longer waste in despair for the loss of my dear husband, who
 possessed every kind of good quality [ aretê ] and
 was the most distinguished man among the Achaeans."

With these words she came down from her upper
 room, not alone but attended by two of her maidens, and when she reached the
 suitors she stood by one of the bearing-posts supporting the roof of the room,
 holding a veil before her face, and with a staid maid servant on either side of
 her. As they beheld her the suitors were so overpowered and became so
 desperately enamored of her, that each one prayed he might win her for his own
 bed fellow. 

 
 "Telemakhos," said she, addressing her son, "I
 fear you are no longer so discreet and well conducted as you used to be. When
 you were younger you had a subtler thoughtfulness [ kerdos ]; now, however, that you are grown up, though a stranger to
 look at you would take you for the son of a well-to-do [ olbios ] father as far as size and good looks go, your conduct is by
 no means what it should be. What is all this disturbance that has been going
 on, and how came you to allow a stranger to be so disgracefully ill-treated?
 What would have happened if he had suffered serious injury while a suppliant in
 our house? Surely this would have been very discreditable to you." 

 
 "I am not surprised, my dear mother, at your
 displeasure," replied Telemakhos, "I understand all about it and know when
 things are not as they should be, which I could not do when I was younger; I
 cannot, however, behave with perfect propriety at all times. First one and then
 another of these wicked people here keeps driving me out of my mind, and I have
 no one to stand by me. After all, however, this fight between Iros and the
 stranger did not turn out as the suitors meant it to do, for the stranger got
 the best of it. I wish Father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo would break the neck of
 every one of these wooers of yours, some inside the house and some out; and I
 wish they might all be as limp as Iros is over yonder in the gate of the outer
 court. See how he nods his head like a drunken man; he has had such a thrashing
 that he cannot stand on his feet nor get back to his home [ nostos ], wherever that may be, for has no strength left in him." 

 
 Thus did they converse. Eurymakhos then came up
 and said, "Queen Penelope, daughter of Ikarios, if all the Achaeans in Iasian
 Argos could see you at this moment, you would have still more suitors in your
 house by tomorrow morning, for you are the most admirable woman in the whole
 world both as regards personal beauty and strength of understanding."

To this Penelope replied, "Eurymakhos, heaven
 robbed me of all my beauty [ aretê ] whether of face
 or figure when the Argives set sail for Troy and my dear husband with them. If he were to return and
 look after my affairs, I should both be more respected [ kleos ] and show a better presence to the world. As it is, I am
 oppressed with care, and with the afflictions which a daimôn has seen fit to heap upon me. My husband foresaw it all, and
 when he was leaving home he took my right wrist in his hand - ‘Wife, ‘he said,
 ‘we shall not all of us come safe home from Troy , for the Trojans fight well both with bow and spear. They
 are excellent also at fighting from chariots, and nothing decides [ krînô ] the issue of a fight sooner than this. I know
 not, therefore, whether heaven will send me back to you, or whether I may not
 fall over there at Troy . In the
 meantime do you look after things here. Take care of my father and mother as at
 present, and even more so during my absence, but when you see our son growing a
 beard, then marry whom you will, and leave this your present home. This is what
 he said and now it is all coming true. A night will come when I shall have to
 yield myself to a marriage which I detest, for Zeus has taken from me all hope
 of happiness [ olbos ]. This further grief [ akhos ], moreover, cuts me to the very heart. You
 suitors are not wooing me after the custom [ dikê ]
 of my country. When men are courting a woman who they think will be a good wife
 to them and who is of noble birth, and when they are each trying to win her for
 himself, they usually bring oxen and sheep to feast the friends of the lady,
 and they make her magnificent presents, instead of eating up other people's
 property without paying for it." 

 
 This was what she said, and Odysseus was glad
 when he heard her trying to get presents out of the suitors, and flattering
 them with fair words which he knew she did not mean in her noos . 

 
 Then Antinoos said, "Queen Penelope, daughter
 of Ikarios, take as many presents as you please from any one who will give them
 to you; it is not well to refuse a present; but we will not go about our
 business nor stir from where we are, till you have married the best man among
 us whoever he may be." 

 
 The others applauded what Antinoos had said,
 and each one sent his servant to bring his present. Antinoos’ man returned with
 a large and lovely dress most exquisitely embroidered. It had twelve
 beautifully made brooch pins of pure gold with which to fasten it. Eurymakhos
 immediately brought her a magnificent chain of gold and amber beads that
 gleamed like sunlight. Eurydamas’ two men returned with some earrings fashioned
 into three brilliant pendants which glistened most beautifully [ kharis ]; while king Peisandros son of Polyktor gave
 her a necklace of the rarest workmanship, and every one else brought her a
 beautiful present of some kind.

Then the queen went back to her room upstairs,
 and her maids brought the presents after her. Meanwhile the suitors took to
 singing and dancing, and stayed till evening came. They danced and sang till it
 grew dark; they then brought in three braziers to give light, and piled them up
 with chopped firewood very and dry, and they lit torches from them, which the
 maids held up turn and turn about. Then Odysseus said: 

 
 "Maids, servants of Odysseus who has so long
 been absent, go to the queen inside the house; sit with her and amuse her, or
 spin, and pick wool. I will hold the light for all these people. They may stay
 till morning, but shall not beat me, for I can stand a great deal." 

 
 The maids looked at one another and laughed,
 while pretty Melantho began to gibe at him contemptuously. She was daughter to
 Dolios, but had been brought up by Penelope, who used to give her toys to play
 with, and looked after her when she was a child; but in spite of all this she
 showed no consideration for the sorrows [ penthos ]
 of her mistress, and used to misconduct herself with Eurymakhos, with whom she
 was in love. 

 
 "Poor wretch," said she, "are you gone clean
 out of your mind? Go and sleep in some smithy, or place of public gossips,
 instead of chattering here. Are you not ashamed of opening your mouth before
 your betters - so many of them too? Has the wine been getting into your head,
 or do you always babble in this way? You seem to have lost your wits because
 you beat the tramp Iros; take care that a better man than he does not come and
 cudgel you about the head till he pack you bleeding out of the house."

"Vixen," replied Odysseus, scowling at her, "I
 will go and tell Telemakhos what you have been saying, and he will have you
 torn limb from limb." 

 
 With these words he scared the women, and they
 went off into the body of the house. They trembled all aver, for they thought
 he would do what he said was true [ alêthês ]. But
 Odysseus took his stand near the burning braziers, holding up torches and
 looking at the people - brooding the while on things that should surely come to
 pass. 

 
 But Athena would not let the suitors for one
 moment cease their insolence, for she wanted Odysseus to become even more
 bitter against them in his grief [ akhos ]; she
 therefore set Eurymakhos son of Polybos on to gibe at him, which made the
 others laugh. "Listen to me," said he, "you suitors of Queen Penelope, that I
 may speak even as I am minded. It is not for nothing that this man has come to
 the house of Odysseus; I believe the light has not been coming from the
 torches, but from his own head - for his hair is all gone, every bit of
 it." 

 
 Then turning to Odysseus he said, "Stranger,
 will you work as a servant, if I send you to the outer limits of the field and
 see that you are well paid? Can you build a stone fence, or plant trees? I will
 have you fed all the year round, and will find you in shoes and clothing. Will
 you go, then? Not you; for you have got into bad ways, and do not want to work;
 you had rather fill your belly by going round the dêmos begging."

"Eurymakhos," answered Odysseus, "if you and I
 were to work one against the other in early summer [ hôra ] when the days are at their longest - give me a good scythe,
 and take another yourself, and let us see which will fast the longer or mow the
 stronger, from dawn till dark when the mowing grass is about. Or if you will
 plough against me, let us each take a yoke of tawny oxen, well-mated and of
 great strength and endurance: turn me into a four acre field, and see whether
 you or I can drive the straighter furrow. If, again, war were to break out this
 day, give me a shield, a couple of spears and a helmet fitting well upon my
 temples - you would find me foremost in the fray, and would cease your gibes
 about my belly. You are insolent and your noos is
 cruel, and you think yourself a great man because you live in a little world,
 and that a bad one. If Odysseus comes to his own again, the doors of his house
 are wide, but you will find them narrow when you try to flee through them." 

 
 Eurymakhos was furious at all this. He scowled
 at him and cried, "You wretch, I will soon pay you out for daring to say such
 things to me, and in public too. Has the wine been getting into your head or do
 you always babble in this way? You seem to have lost your wits because you beat
 the tramp Iros. With this he caught hold of a footstool, but Odysseus sought
 protection at the knees of Amphinomos of Dulichium, for he was afraid. The
 stool hit the cupbearer on his right hand and knocked him down: the man fell
 with a cry flat on his back, and his wine-jug fell ringing to the ground. The
 suitors in the covered room were now in an uproar, and one would turn towards
 his neighbor, saying, "I wish the stranger had gone somewhere else, bad luck to
 hide, for all the trouble he gives us. We cannot permit such disturbance about
 a beggar; if such ill counsels are to prevail we shall have no more pleasure at
 our banquet." 

 
 On this Telemakhos came forward and said,
 "Sirs, are you mad? Can you not carry your meat and your liquor decently? Some
 evil spirit has possessed you. I do not wish to drive any of you away, but you
 have had your suppers, and the sooner you all go home to bed the better." 

 
 The suitors bit their lips and marveled at the
 boldness of his speech; but Amphinomos the son of Nisus, who was son to
 Aretias, said, "Do not let us take offense; it is reasonable [ dikaios ], so let us make no answer. Neither let us do
 violence to the stranger nor to any of Odysseus’ servants. Let the cupbearer go
 round with the drink-offerings, that we may make them and go home to our rest.
 As for the stranger, let us leave Telemakhos to deal with him, for it is to his
 house that he has come."

Thus did he speak, and his saying pleased them
 well, so Moulios of Dulichium, servant to Amphinomos, mixed them a bowl of wine
 and water and handed it round to each of them man by man, whereon they made
 their drink-offerings to the blessed gods: Then, when they had made their
 drink-offerings and had drunk each one as he was minded, they took their
 several ways each of them to his own abode.

Odysseus was left in the room, pondering on the
 means whereby with Athena's help he might be able to kill the suitors.
 Presently he said to Telemakhos, "Telemakhos, we must get the armor together
 and take it down inside. Make some excuse when the suitors ask you why you have
 removed it. Say that you have taken it to be out of the way of the smoke,
 inasmuch as it is no longer what it was when Odysseus went away, but has become
 soiled and begrimed with soot. Add to this more particularly that you are
 afraid a daimôn may set them on to quarrel over
 their wine, and that they may do each other some harm which may disgrace both
 banquet and wooing, for the sight of arms sometimes tempts people to use
 them." 

 
 Telemakhos approved of what his father had said,
 so he called nurse Eurykleia and said, "Nurse, shut the women up in their room,
 while I take the armor that my father left behind him down into the store room.
 No one looks after it now my father is gone, and it has got all smirched with
 soot during my own boyhood. I want to take it down where the smoke cannot reach
 it." 

 
 "I wish, child," answered Eurykleia, "that you
 would take the management of the house into your own hands altogether, and look
 after all the property yourself. But who is to go with you and light you to the
 store room? The maids would have so, but you would not let them. 

 
 "The stranger," said Telemakhos, "shall show me
 a light; when people eat my bread they must earn it, no matter where they come
 from."

Eurykleia did as she was told, and bolted the
 women inside their room. Then Odysseus and his son made all haste to take the
 helmets, shields, and spears inside; and Athena went before them with a gold
 lamp in her hand that shed a soft and brilliant radiance, whereon Telemakhos
 said, "Father, my eyes behold a great marvel: the walls, with the rafters,
 crossbeams, and the supports on which they rest are all aglow as with a flaming
 fire. Surely there is some god here who has come down from heaven." 

 
 "Hush," answered Odysseus, "hold your noos in peace and ask no questions, for this is the
 manner [ dikê ] of the gods. Get you to your bed, and
 leave me here to talk with your mother and the maids. Your mother in her grief
 will ask me all sorts of questions." 

 
 On this Telemakhos went by torch-light to the
 other side of the inner court, to the room in which he always slept. There he
 lay in his bed till morning, while Odysseus was left in the room pondering on
 the means whereby with Athena's help he might be able to kill the suitors. 

 
 Then Penelope came down from her room looking
 like Aphrodite or Artemis, and they set her a seat inlaid with scrolls of
 silver and ivory near the fire in her accustomed place. It had been made by
 Ikmalios and had a footstool all in one piece with the seat itself; and it was
 covered with a thick fleece: on this she now sat, and the maids came from the
 women's room to join her. They set about removing the tables at which the
 wicked suitors had been dining, and took away the bread that was left, with the
 cups from which they had drunk. They emptied the embers out of the braziers,
 and heaped much wood upon them to give both light and heat; but Melantho began
 to rail at Odysseus a second time and said, "Stranger, do you mean to plague us
 by hanging about the house all night and spying upon the women? Be off, you
 wretch, outside, and eat your supper there, or you shall be driven out with a
 firebrand."

Odysseus scowled at her and answered, "My good
 woman, why should you be so angry with me? Is it because I am not clean, and my
 clothes are all in rags, and because I am obliged to go begging about the dêmos after the manner of tramps and beggars general?
 I too was a rich [ olbios ] man once, and had a fine
 house of my own; in those days I gave to many a tramp such as I now am, no
 matter who he might be nor what he wanted. I had any number of servants, and
 all the other things which people have who live well and are accounted wealthy,
 but it pleased Zeus to take all away from me; therefore, woman, beware lest you
 too come to lose that pride and place in which you now wanton above your
 fellows; have a care lest you get out of favor with your mistress, and lest
 Odysseus should come home, for there is still a chance that he may do so.
 Moreover, though he be dead as you think he is, yet by Apollo's will he has
 left a son behind him, Telemakhos, who will note anything done amiss by the
 maids in the house, for he is now no longer in his boyhood." 

 
 Penelope heard what he was saying and scolded
 the maid, "Impudent baggage," said she, "I see how abominably you are behaving,
 and you shall smart for it. You knew perfectly well, for I told you myself,
 that I was going to see the stranger and ask him about my husband, for whose
 sake I am in such continual sorrow." 

 
 Then she said to her head waiting woman
 Eurynome, "Bring a seat with a fleece upon it, for the stranger to sit upon
 while he tells his story, and listens to what I have to say. I wish to ask him
 some questions." 

 
 Eurynome brought the seat at once and set a
 fleece upon it, and as soon as Odysseus had sat down Penelope began by saying,
 "Stranger, I shall first ask you who and whence are you? Tell me of your town
 and parents."

"Lady;" answered Odysseus, "who on the face of
 the whole earth can dare to chide with you? Your fame [ kleos ] reaches the firmament of heaven itself; you are like some
 blameless king, who upholds righteousness, as the monarch over a great and
 valiant nation: the earth yields its wheat and barley, the trees are loaded
 with fruit, the ewes bring forth lambs, and the sea abounds with fish by reason
 of his virtues, and his people do good deeds under him. Nevertheless, as I sit
 here in your house, ask me some other question and do not seek to know my race
 and family, or you will recall memories that will yet more increase my sorrow.
 I am full of heaviness, but I ought not to sit weeping and wailing in another
 person's house, nor is it well to be thus grieving continually. I shall have
 one of the servants or even yourself complaining of me, and saying that my eyes
 swim with tears because I am heavy with wine." 

 
 Then Penelope answered, "Stranger, the immortal
 gods robbed me of all aretê , whether of face or
 figure, when the Argives set sail for Troy and my dear husband with them. If he were to return and
 look after my affairs I should be both more respected [ kleos ] and should show a better presence to the world. As it is, I
 am oppressed with care, and with the afflictions which a daimôn has seen fit to heap upon me. The chiefs from all our islands
 - Dulichium, Same, and Zacynthus , as
 also from Ithaca itself, are wooing me
 against my will and are wasting my estate. I can therefore show no attention to
 strangers, nor suppliants, nor to people who say that they are skilled
 artisans, but am all the time brokenhearted about Odysseus. They want me to
 marry again at once, and I have to invent stratagems in order to deceive them.
 In the first place a daimôn put it in my mind to
 set up a great tambour-frame in my room, and to begin working upon an enormous
 piece of fine needlework. Then I said to them, ‘Sweethearts, Odysseus is indeed
 dead, still, do not press me to marry again immediately; wait - for I would not
 have my skill in needlework perish unrecorded - till I have finished making a
 shroud for the hero Laertes , to be
 ready against the time when death shall take him. He is very rich, and the
 women of the dêmos will talk if he is laid out
 without a shroud.’ This was what I said, and they assented; whereon I used to
 keep working at my great web all day long, but at night I would unpick the
 stitches again by torch light. I fooled them in this way for three years
 without their finding it out, but as time [ hôra ]
 wore on and I was now in my fourth year, in the waning of moons, and many days
 had been accomplished, those good-for-nothing hussies my maids betrayed me to
 the suitors, who broke in upon me and caught me; they were very angry with me,
 so I was forced to finish my work whether I would or no. And now I do not see
 how I can find any further shift for getting out of this marriage. My parents
 are putting great pressure upon me, and my son chafes at the ravages the
 suitors are making upon his estate, for he is now old enough to understand all
 about it and is perfectly able to look after his own affairs, for heaven has
 blessed him with an excellent disposition. Still, notwithstanding all this,
 tell me who you are and where you come from - for you must have had father and
 mother of some sort; you cannot be the son of an oak or of a rock." 

 
 Then Odysseus answered, "Lady, wife of
 Odysseus, since you persist in asking me about my family, I will answer, no
 matter what it costs me: people must expect to be pained [ akhos ] when they have been exiles as long as I have, and suffered as
 much among as many peoples. Nevertheless, as regards your question I will tell
 you all you ask. There is a fair and fruitful island in mid-ocean called
 Crete ; it is thickly peopled and
 there are nine cities in it: the people speak many different languages which
 overlap one another, for there are Achaeans, brave Eteocretans, Dorians of
 three-fold race, and noble Pelasgi. There is a great town there, Knossos , where Minos reigned who every
 nine years had a conference with Zeus himself. Minos was father to Deukalion,
 whose son I am, for Deukalion had two sons Idomeneus and myself. Idomeneus
 sailed for Troy , and I, who am the
 younger, am called Aithon; my brother, however, was at once the older and the
 more valiant of the two; hence it was in Crete that I saw Odysseus and showed him hospitality, for the
 winds took him there as he was on his way to Troy , carrying him out of his course from cape Malea and
 leaving him in Amnisos off the
 cave of Eileithuia, where the harbors are difficult to enter and he could
 hardly find shelter from the winds that were then raging. As soon as he got
 there he went into the town and asked for Idomeneus, claiming to be his old and
 valued friend, but Idomeneus had already set sail for Troy some ten or twelve days earlier, so I
 took him to my own house and showed him every kind of hospitality, for I had
 abundance of everything. Moreover, I fed the men who were with him with barley
 meal from the public store, and got subscriptions of wine and oxen for them to
 sacrifice to their heart's content. They stayed with me twelve days, for there
 was a gale blowing from the North so strong that one could hardly keep one's
 feet on land. I suppose some unfriendly daimôn had
 raised it for them, but on the thirteenth day the wind dropped, and they got
 away." 

 
 Many a plausible tale did Odysseus further tell
 her, and Penelope wept as she listened, for her heart was melted. As the snow
 wastes upon the mountain tops when the winds from South East and West have
 breathed upon it and thawed it till the rivers run bank full with water, even
 so did her cheeks overflow with tears for the husband who was all the time
 sitting by her side. Odysseus felt for her and was for her, but he kept his
 eyes as hard as or iron without letting them so much as quiver, so cunningly
 did he restrain his tears. Then, when she had relieved herself by weeping, she
 turned to him again and said: "Now, stranger, I shall put you to the test and
 see whether or not you really did entertain my husband and his men, as you say
 you did. Tell me, then, how he was dressed, what kind of a man he was to look
 at, and so also with his companions."

"Lady," answered Odysseus, "it is such a long
 time ago that I can hardly say. Twenty years are come and gone since he left my
 home, and went elsewhere; but I will tell you as well as I can recollect.
 Odysseus wore a mantle of purple wool, double lined, and it was fastened by a
 gold brooch with two catches for the pin. On the face of this there was a
 device that showed a dog holding a spotted fawn between his fore paws, and
 watching it as it lay panting upon the ground. Every one marveled at the way in
 which these things had been done in gold, the dog looking at the fawn, and
 strangling it, while the fawn was struggling convulsively to escape. As for the
 shirt that he wore next his skin, it was so soft that it fitted him like the
 skin of an onion, and glistened in the sunlight to the admiration of all the
 women who beheld it. Furthermore I say, and lay my saying to your heart, that I
 do not know whether Odysseus wore these clothes when he left home, or whether
 one of his companions had given them to him while he was on his voyage; or
 possibly some one at whose house he was staying made him a present of them, for
 he was a man of many friends and had few equals among the Achaeans. I myself
 gave him a sword of bronze and a beautiful purple mantle, double lined, with a
 shirt that went down to his feet, and I sent him on board his ship with every
 mark of honor. He had a servant with him, a little older than himself, and I
 can tell you what he was like; his shoulders were hunched, he was dark, and he
 had thick curly hair. His name was Eurybates, and Odysseus treated him with
 greater familiarity than he did any of the others, as being the most
 like-minded with himself." 

 
 Penelope was moved still more deeply as she
 heard the indisputable proofs [ sêmata ] that
 Odysseus laid before her; and when she had again found relief in tears she said
 to him, "Stranger, I was already disposed to pity you, but henceforth you shall
 be honored and made welcome in my house. It was I who gave Odysseus the clothes
 you speak of. I took them out of the store room and folded them up myself, and
 I gave him also the gold brooch to wear as an ornament. Alas! I shall never
 welcome him home again. It was by an ill fate that he ever set out for that
 detested city whose very name I cannot bring myself even to mention." 

 
 Then Odysseus answered, "Lady, wife of
 Odysseus, do not disfigure yourself further by grieving thus bitterly for your
 loss, though I can hardly blame you for doing so. A woman who has loved her
 husband and borne him children, would naturally be grieved at losing him, even
 though he were a worse man than Odysseus, who they say was like a god. Still,
 cease your tears and listen to what I can tell. I will hide nothing from you,
 and can say with perfect truth that I have lately heard of Odysseus as being
 alive and on his way home [ nostos ]; he is in the
 district [ dêmos ] of the Thesprotians, and is
 bringing back much valuable treasure that he has begged from one and another of
 them; but his ship and all his crew were lost as they were leaving the
 Thrinacian island, for Zeus and the sun-god were angry with him because his men
 had slaughtered the sun-god's cattle, and they were all drowned to a man. But
 Odysseus stuck to the keel of the ship and was drifted on to the land of the
 Phaeacians, who are near of kin to the immortals, and who treated him as though
 he had been a god, giving him many presents, and wishing to escort him home
 safe and sound. In fact Odysseus would have been here long ago, had he not
 thought better to go from land to land gathering wealth; for there is no man
 living who is so wily [ kerdos ] as he is; there is
 no one can compare with him. Pheidon king of the Thesprotians told me all this,
 and he swore to me - making drink-offerings in his house as he did so - that
 the ship was by the water side and the crew found who would take Odysseus to
 his own country. He sent me off first, for there happened to be a Thesprotian
 ship sailing for the wheat-growing island of Dulichium, but he showed me all
 the treasure Odysseus had got together, and he had enough lying in the house of
 king Pheidon to keep his family for ten generations; but the king said Odysseus
 had gone to Dodona that he might
 learn Zeus’ mind from the high oak tree, and know whether after so long an
 absence he should return to Ithaca 
 openly or in secret. So you may know he is safe and will be here shortly; he is
 close at hand and cannot remain away from home much longer; nevertheless I will
 confirm my words with an oath, and call Zeus who is the first and mightiest of
 all gods to witness, as also that hearth of Odysseus to which I have now come,
 that all I have spoken shall surely come to pass. Odysseus will return in this
 self same year; with the end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will
 be here." 

 
 "May it be even so," answered Penelope; "if
 your words come true you shall have such gifts and such good will from me that
 all who see you shall congratulate you; but I know very well how it will be.
 Odysseus will not return, neither will you get your escort hence, for so surely
 as that Odysseus ever was, there are now no longer any such masters in the
 house as he was, to receive honorable strangers or to further them on their way
 home. And now, you maids, wash his feet for him, and make him a bed on a couch
 with rugs and blankets, that he may be warm and quiet till morning. Then, at
 day break wash him and anoint him again, that he may sit in the room and take
 his meals with Telemakhos. It shall be the worse for any one of these hateful
 people who is uncivil to him; like it or not, he shall have no more to do in
 this house. For how, sir, shall you be able to learn whether or no I am
 superior to others of my sex both in goodness of heart and understanding [ noos ], if I let you dine in my cloisters squalid and
 ill clad? Men live but for a little season; if they are hard, and deal hardly,
 people wish them ill so long as they are alive, and speak contemptuously of
 them when they are dead, but he that is righteous and deals righteously, the
 people tell of his praise [ kleos ] among all lands,
 and many shall call him blessed."

Odysseus answered, "Lady, I have foresworn rugs
 and blankets from the day that I left the snowy ranges of Crete to go on shipboard. I will lie as I have
 lain on many a sleepless night hitherto. Night after night have I passed in any
 rough sleeping place, and waited for morning. Nor, again, do I like having my
 feet washed; I shall not let any of the young hussies about your house touch my
 feet; but, if you have any old and respectable woman who has gone through as
 much trouble as I have, I will allow her to wash them." 

 
 To this Penelope said, "My dear sir, of all the
 guests who ever yet came to my house there never was one who spoke in all
 things with such admirable propriety as you do. There happens to be in the
 house a most respectable old woman - the same who received my poor dear husband
 in her arms the night he was born, and nursed him in infancy. She is very
 feeble now, but she shall wash your feet. Come here," said she, "Eurykleia, and
 wash your master's age-mate; I suppose Odysseus’ hands and feet are very much
 the same now as his are, for trouble ages all of us dreadfully fast." 

 
 On these words the old woman covered her face
 with her hands; she began to weep and made lamentation saying, "My dear child,
 I cannot think whatever I am to do with you. I am certain no one was ever more
 god-fearing than yourself, and yet Zeus hates you. No one in the whole world
 ever burned him more thigh bones, nor gave him finer hecatombs when you prayed
 you might come to a green old age yourself and see your son grow up to take
 after you; yet see how he has prevented you alone from ever getting back to
 your own home. I have no doubt the women in some foreign palace which Odysseus
 has got to are gibing at him as all these sluts here have been gibing you. I do
 not wonder at your not choosing to let them wash you after the manner in which
 they have insulted you; I will wash your feet myself gladly enough, as Penelope
 has said that I am to do so; I will wash them both for Penelope's sake and for
 your own, for you have raised the most lively feelings of compassion in my
 mind; and let me say this moreover, which pray attend to; we have had all kinds
 of strangers in distress come here before now, but I make bold to say that no
 one ever yet came who was so like Odysseus in figure, voice, and feet as you
 are." 

 
 "Those who have seen us both," answered
 Odysseus, "have always said we were wonderfully like each other, and now you
 have noticed it too.

Then the old woman took the cauldron in which
 she was going to wash his feet, and poured plenty of cold water into it, adding
 hot till the bath was warm enough. Odysseus sat by the fire, but ere long he
 turned away from the light, for it occurred to him that when the old woman had
 hold of his leg she would recognize a certain scar which it bore, whereon the
 whole truth would come out. And indeed as soon as she began washing her master,
 she at once knew the scar as one that had been given him by a wild boar when he
 was hunting on Mount Parnassus with his excellent grandfather Autolykos - who
 was the most accomplished thief and perjurer in the whole world - and with the
 sons of Autolykos. Hermes himself had endowed him with this gift, for he used
 to burn the thigh bones of goats and kids to him, so he took pleasure in his
 companionship. It happened once that Autolykos had gone to the dêmos of Ithaca and had found the child of his daughter just born. As
 soon as he had done supper Eurykleia set the infant upon his knees and said,
 "You must find a name for your grandson; you greatly wished that you might have
 one." 

 
 ‘Son-in-law and daughter," replied Autolykos,
 "call the child thus: I am highly displeased with a large number of people in
 one place and another, both men and women; so name the child ‘Odysseus,’ or the
 child of anger. When he grows up and comes to visit his mother's family on
 Mount Parnassus , where my possessions
 lie, I will make him a present and will send him on his way rejoicing." 

 
 Odysseus, therefore, went to Parnassus to get the presents from Autolykos,
 who with his sons shook hands with him and gave him welcome. His grandmother
 Amphithea threw her arms about him, and kissed his head, and both his beautiful
 eyes, while Autolykos desired his sons to get dinner ready, and they did as he
 told them. They brought in a five year old bull, flayed it, made it ready and
 divided it into joints; these they then cut carefully up into smaller pieces
 and spitted them; they roasted them sufficiently and served the portions round.
 Thus through the livelong day to the going down of the sun they feasted, and
 every man had his full share so that all were satisfied; but when the sun set
 and it came on dark, they went to bed and enjoyed the boon of sleep. 

 
 When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
 appeared, the sons of Autolykos went out with their hounds hunting, and
 Odysseus went too. They climbed the wooded slopes of Parnassus and soon reached
 its breezy upland valleys; but as the sun was beginning to beat upon the
 fields, fresh-risen from the slow still currents of Okeanos, they came to a
 mountain dell. The dogs were in front searching for the tracks of the beast
 they were chasing, and after them came the sons of Autolykos, among whom was
 Odysseus, close behind the dogs, and he had a long spear in his hand. Here was
 the lair of a huge boar among some thick brushwood, so dense that the wind and
 rain could not get through it, nor could the sun's rays pierce it, and the
 ground underneath lay thick with fallen leaves. The boar heard the noise of the
 men's feet, and the hounds baying on every side as the huntsmen came up to him,
 so rushed from his lair, raised the bristles on his neck, and stood at bay with
 fire flashing from his eyes. Odysseus was the first to raise his spear and try
 to drive it into the brute, but the boar was too quick for him, and charged him
 sideways, ripping him above the knee with a gash that tore deep though it did
 not reach the bone. As for the boar, Odysseus hit him on the right shoulder,
 and the point of the spear went right through him, so that he fell groaning in
 the dust until the life went out of him. The sons of Autolykos busied
 themselves with the carcass of the boar, and bound Odysseus’ wound; then, after
 saying a spell to stop the bleeding, they went home as fast as they could. But
 when Autolykos and his sons had thoroughly healed Odysseus, they made him some
 splendid presents, and sent him back to Ithaca with much mutual good will. When he got back, his father
 and mother were rejoiced to see him, and asked him all about it, and how he had
 hurt himself to get the scar; so he told them how the boar had ripped him when
 he was out hunting with Autolykos and his sons on Mount Parnassus.

As soon as Eurykleia had got the scarred limb
 in her hands and had well hold of it, she recognized it and dropped the foot at
 once. The leg fell into the bath, which rang out and was overturned, so that
 all the water was spilt on the ground; Eurykleia's eyes between her joy and her
 grief filled with tears, and she could not speak, but she caught Odysseus by
 the beard and said, "My dear child, I am sure you must be Odysseus himself,
 only I did not know you till I had actually touched and handled you." 

 
 As she spoke she looked towards Penelope, as
 though wanting to tell her that her dear husband was in the house, but Penelope
 was unable to look in that direction and observe what was going on, for Athena
 had diverted her attention [ noos ]; so Odysseus
 caught Eurykleia by the throat with his right hand and with his left drew her
 close to him, and said, "Nurse, do you wish to be the ruin of me, you who
 nursed me at your own breast, now that after twenty years of wandering I am at
 last come to my own home again? Since it has been borne in upon you by heaven
 to recognize me, hold your tongue, and do not say a word about it any one else
 in the house, for if you do I tell you - and it shall surely be - that if
 heaven grants me to take the lives of these suitors, I will not spare you,
 though you are my own nurse, when I am killing the other women." 

 
 "My child," answered Eurykleia, "what are you
 talking about? You know very well that nothing can either bend or break me. I
 will hold my tongue like a stone or a piece of iron; furthermore let me say,
 and lay my saying to your heart, when heaven has delivered the suitors into
 your hand, I will give you a list of the women in the house who have been
 ill-behaved, and of those who are guiltless." 

 
 And Odysseus answered, "Nurse, you ought not to
 speak in that way; I am well able to form my own opinion about one and all of
 them; hold your tongue and leave everything to heaven."

As he said this Eurykleia left the room to
 fetch some more water, for the first had been all spilt; and when she had
 washed him and anointed him with oil, Odysseus drew his seat nearer to the fire
 to warm himself, and hid the scar under his rags. Then Penelope began talking
 to him and said: 

 
 "Stranger, I should like to speak with you
 briefly about another matter. It is indeed nearly bed time - for those, at
 least, who can sleep in spite of sorrow. As for myself, a daimôn has given me a life of such unmeasurable woe [ penthos ], that even by day when I am attending to my
 duties and looking after the servants, I am still weeping and lamenting during
 the whole time; then, when night comes, and we all of us go to bed, I lie awake
 thinking, and my heart becomes prey to the most incessant and cruel tortures.
 As the dun nightingale, daughter of Pandareus, sings in the early spring from
 her seat in shadiest covert hid, and with many a plaintive trill pours out the
 tale how by mishap she killed her own child Itylos, son of king Zethos, even so
 does my mind toss and turn in its uncertainty whether I ought to stay with my
 son here, and safeguard my substance, my bondsmen, and the greatness of my
 house, out of regard to the opinion of the dêmos 
 and the memory of my late husband, or whether it is not now time for me to go
 with the best of these suitors who are wooing me and making me such magnificent
 presents. As long as my son was still young, and unable to understand, he would
 not hear of my leaving my husband's house, but now that he is full grown he
 begs and prays me to do so, being incensed at the way in which the suitors are
 eating up his property. Listen, then, to a dream that I have had and interpret
 it for me if you can. I have twenty geese about the house that eat mash out of
 a trough, and of which I am exceedingly fond. I dreamed that a great eagle came
 swooping down from a mountain, and dug his curved beak into the neck of each of
 them till he had killed them all. Presently he soared off into the sky, and
 left them lying dead about the yard; whereon I wept in my room till all my
 maids gathered round me, so piteously was I grieving because the eagle had
 killed my geese. Then he came back again, and perching on a projecting rafter
 spoke to me with human voice, and told me to leave off crying. ‘Be of good
 courage,’ he said, ‘daughter of Ikarios; this is no dream, but a vision of good
 omen that shall surely come to pass. The geese are the suitors, and I am no
 longer an eagle, but your own husband, who am come back to you, and who will
 bring these suitors to a disgraceful end.’ On this I woke, and when I looked
 out I saw my geese at the trough eating their mash as usual." 

 
 "This dream, lady," replied Odysseus, "can
 admit but of one interpretation, for had not Odysseus himself told you how it
 shall be fulfilled? The death of the suitors is portended, and not one single
 one of them will escape." 

 
 And Penelope answered, "Stranger, dreams are
 very curious and unaccountable things, and they do not by any means invariably
 come true. There are two gates through which these insubstantial fancies
 proceed; the one is of horn, and the other ivory. Those that come through the
 gate of ivory are fatuous, but those from the gate of horn mean something to
 those that see them. I do not think, however, that my own dream came through
 the gate of horn, though I and my son should be most thankful if it proves to
 have done so. Furthermore I say - and lay my saying to your heart - the coming
 dawn will usher in the ill-omened day that is to sever me from the house of
 Odysseus, for I am about to hold a tournament [ athlos ] of axes. My husband used to set up twelve axes in the court,
 one in front of the other, like the stays upon which a ship is built; he would
 then go back from them and shoot an arrow through the whole twelve. I shall
 make the suitors try to perform the same feat [ athlos ], and whichever of them can string the bow most easily, and
 send his arrow through all the twelve axes, him will I follow, and quit this
 house of my lawful husband, so goodly and so abounding in wealth. But even so,
 I doubt not that I shall remember it in my dreams."

Then Odysseus answered, "my lady wife of
 Odysseus, you need not defer your tournament [ athlos ], for Odysseus will return ere ever they can string the bow,
 handle it how they will, and send their arrows through the iron." 

 
 To this Penelope said, "As long, sir, as you
 will sit here and talk to me, I can have no desire to go to bed. Still, people
 cannot do permanently without sleep, and heaven has appointed us dwellers on
 earth a time for all things. I will therefore go upstairs and recline upon that
 couch which I have never ceased to flood with my tears from the day Odysseus
 set out for the city with a hateful name." 

 
 She then went upstairs to her own room, not
 alone, but attended by her maidens, and when there, she lamented her dear
 husband till Athena shed sweet sleep over her eyelids.

Odysseus slept in the room upon an undressed
 bullock's hide, on the top of which he threw several skins of the sheep the
 suitors had eaten, and Eurynome threw a cloak over him after he had laid
 himself down. There, then, Odysseus lay wakefully brooding upon the way in
 which he should kill the suitors; and by and by, the women who had been in the
 habit of misconducting themselves with them, left the house giggling and
 laughing with one another. This made Odysseus very angry, and he doubted
 whether to get up and kill every single one of them then and there, or to let
 them sleep one more and last time with the suitors. His heart growled within
 him, and as a bitch with puppies growls and shows her teeth when she sees a
 stranger, so did his heart growl with anger at the evil deeds that were being
 done: but he beat his breast and said, "Heart, be still, you had worse than
 this to bear on the day when the terrible Cyclops ate your brave companions; yet you bore it in silence
 till your cunning got you safe out of the cave, though you made sure of being
 killed." 

 
 Thus he chided with his heart, and checked it
 into endurance, but he tossed about as one who turns a paunch full of blood and
 fat in front of a hot fire, doing it first on one side and then on the other,
 that he may get it cooked as soon as possible, even so did he turn himself
 about from side to side, thinking all the time how, single handed as he was, he
 should contrive to kill so large a body of men as the wicked suitors. But by
 and by Athena came down from heaven in the likeness of a woman, and hovered
 over his head saying, "My poor unhappy man, why do you lie awake in this way?
 This is your house: your wife is safe inside it, and so is your son who is just
 such a young man as any father may be proud of." 

 
 "Goddess," answered Odysseus, "all that you have
 said is true, but I am in some doubt as to how I shall be able to kill these
 wicked suitors single handed, seeing what a number of them there always are.
 And there is this further difficulty, which is still more considerable.
 Supposing that with Zeus’ and your assistance I succeed in killing them, I must
 ask you to consider where I am to escape to from their avengers when it is all
 over." 

 
 "For shame," replied Athena, "why, any one else
 would trust a worse ally than myself, even though that ally were only a mortal
 and less wise than I am. Am I not a goddess, and have I not protected you
 throughout in all your ordeals [ ponos ]? I tell you
 plainly that even though there were fifty bands of men surrounding us and eager
 to kill us, you should take all their sheep and cattle, and drive them away
 with you. But go to sleep; it is a very bad thing to lie awake all night, and
 you shall be out of your troubles before long."

As she spoke she shed sleep over his eyes, and
 then went back to Olympus . 

 
 While Odysseus was thus yielding himself to a
 very deep slumber that eased the burden of his sorrows, his admirable wife
 awoke, and sitting up in her bed began to cry. When she had relieved herself by
 weeping she prayed to Artemis saying, "Great Goddess Artemis, daughter of Zeus,
 drive an arrow into my heart and slay me; or let some whirlwind snatch me up
 and bear me through paths of darkness till it drop me into the mouths of
 overflowing Okeanos, as it did the daughters of Pandareus. The daughters of
 Pandareus lost their father and mother, for the gods killed them, so they were
 left orphans. But Aphrodite took care of them, and fed them on cheese, honey,
 and sweet wine. Hera taught them to excel all women in beauty of form and
 understanding; Artemis gave them an imposing presence, and Athena endowed them
 with every kind of accomplishment; but one day when Aphrodite had gone up to
 Olympus to see Zeus about getting
 them married (for well does he know both what shall happen and what not happen
 to every one) the storm winds came and spirited them away to become handmaids
 to the dread Erinyes. Even so I wish that the gods who live in heaven would
 hide me from mortal sight, or that fair Artemis might strike me, for I would
 fain go even beneath the sad earth if I might do so still looking towards
 Odysseus only, and without having to yield myself to a worse man than he was.
 Besides, no matter how many people may grieve by day, they can put up with it
 so long as they can sleep at night, for when the eyes are closed in slumber
 people forget good and ill alike; whereas my miserable daimôn haunts me even in my dreams. This very night I thought there
 was one lying by my side who was like Odysseus as he was when he went away with
 his host, and I rejoiced, for I believed that it was no dream, but the very
 truth itself." 

 
 On this the day broke, but Odysseus heard the
 sound of her weeping, and it puzzled him, for it seemed as though she already
 knew him and was by his side. Then he gathered up the cloak and the fleeces on
 which he had lain, and set them on a seat in the room, but he took the
 bullock's hide out into the open. He lifted up his hands to heaven, and prayed,
 saying "Father Zeus, since you have seen fit to bring me over land and sea to
 my own home after all the afflictions you have laid upon me, give me a sign out
 of the mouth of some one or other of those who are now waking within the house,
 and let me have another sign of some kind from outside." 

 
 Thus did he pray. Zeus heard his prayer and
 forthwith thundered high up among the from the splendor of Olympus , and Odysseus was glad when he heard
 it. At the same time within the house, a miller-woman from hard by in the mill
 room lifted up her voice and gave him another sign. There were twelve
 miller-women whose business it was to grind wheat and barley which are the
 staff of life. The others had ground their task and had gone to take their
 rest, but this one had not yet finished, for she was not so strong as they
 were, and when she heard the thunder she stopped grinding and gave the sign
 [ sêma ] to her master. "Father Zeus," said she,
 "you who rule over heaven and earth, you have thundered from a clear sky
 without so much as a cloud in it, and this means something for somebody; answer
 the prayer, then, of me your poor servant who calls upon you, and let this be
 the very last day that the suitors dine in the house of Odysseus. They have
 worn me out with the labor of grinding meal for them, and I hope they may never
 have another dinner anywhere at all."

Odysseus was glad when he heard the omens
 conveyed to him by the woman's speech, and by the thunder, for he knew they
 meant that he should avenge himself on the suitors. 

 
 Then the other maids in the house rose and lit
 the fire on the hearth; Telemakhos also rose and put on his clothes. He girded
 his sword about his shoulder, bound his sandals on his comely feet, and took a
 doughty spear with a point of sharpened bronze; then he went to the threshold
 of the room and said to Eurykleia, "Nurse, did you make the stranger
 comfortable both as regards bed and board, or did you let him shift for
 himself? - for my mother, good woman though she is, has a way of paying great
 attention to second-rate people, and of neglecting others who are in reality
 much better men." 

 
 "Do not find fault, child," said Eurykleia,
 "when there is no one to find fault with. The stranger sat and drank his wine
 as long as he liked: your mother did ask him if he would take any more bread
 and he said he would not. When he wanted to go to bed she told the servants to
 make one for him, but he said he was such a wretched outcast that he would not
 sleep on a bed and under blankets; he insisted on having an undressed bullock's
 hide and some sheepskins put for him in the room and I threw a cloak over him
 myself." 

 
 Then Telemakhos went out of the court to the
 place where the Achaeans were meeting in assembly; he had his spear in his
 hand, and he was not alone, for his two dogs went with him. But Eurykleia
 called the maids and said, "Come, wake up; set about sweeping the cloisters and
 sprinkling them with water to lay the dust; put the covers on the seats; wipe
 down the tables, some of you, with a wet sponge; clean out the mixing-jugs and
 the cups, and for water from the fountain at once; the suitors will be here
 directly; they will be here early, for it is a feast day."

Thus did she speak, and they did even as she
 had said: twenty of them went to the fountain for water, and the others set
 themselves busily to work about the house. The men who were in attendance on
 the suitors also came up and began chopping firewood. By and by the women
 returned from the fountain, and the swineherd came after them with the three
 best pigs he could pick out. These he let feed about the premises, and then he
 said with good humor to Odysseus, "Stranger, are the suitors treating you any
 better now, or are they as insolent as ever?" 

 
 "May heaven," answered Odysseus, "requite to
 them the wickedness with which they deal high-handedly in another man's house
 without any sense of shame [ aidôs ]." 

 
 Thus did they converse; meanwhile Melanthios
 the goatherd came up, for he too was bringing in his best goats for the
 suitors’ dinner; and he had two shepherds with him. They tied the goats up
 under the gatehouse, and then Melanthios began gibing at Odysseus. "Are you
 still here, stranger," said he, "to pester people by begging about the house?
 Why can you not go elsewhere? You and I shall not come to an understanding
 before we have given each other a taste of our fists. You beg without any sense
 of decency [ kosmos ]: are there not feasts elsewhere
 among the Achaeans, as well as here?" 

 
 Odysseus made no answer, but bowed his head and
 brooded. Then a third man, Philoitios, joined them, who was bringing in a
 barren heifer and some goats. These were brought over by the boatmen who are
 there to take people over when any one comes to them. So Philoitios made his
 heifer and his goats secure under the gatehouse, and then went up to the
 swineherd. "Who, Swineherd," said he, "is this stranger that is lately come
 here? Is he one of your men? What is his family? Where does he come from? Poor
 fellow, he looks as if he had been some great man, but the gods give sorrow to
 whom they will - even to kings if it so pleases them

As he spoke he went up to Odysseus and saluted
 him with his right hand; "Good day to you, father stranger," said he, "you seem
 to be very poorly off now, but I hope you will have better times [ olbos ] by and by. Father Zeus, of all gods you are the
 most malicious. We are your own children, yet you show us no mercy in all our
 misery and afflictions. A sweat came over me when I saw this man, and my eyes
 filled with tears, for he reminds me of Odysseus, who I fear is going about in
 just such rags as this man's are, if indeed he is still among the living. If he
 is already dead and in the house of Hades, then, alas! for my good master, who
 made me his stockman when I was quite young in the dêmos of the Cephallênians, and now his cattle are countless; no one
 could have done better with them than I have, for they have bred like ears of
 wheat; nevertheless I have to keep bringing them in for others to eat, who take
 no heed of his son though he is in the house, and fear not the wrath of heaven,
 but are already eager to divide Odysseus’ property among them because he has
 been away so long. I have often thought - only it would not be right while his
 son is living - of going off with the cattle to some foreign dêmos ; bad as this would be, it is still harder to
 stay here and be ill-treated about other people's herds. My position is
 intolerable, and I should long since have run away and put myself under the
 protection of some other chief, only that I believe my poor master will yet
 return, and send all these suitors fleeing out of the house." 

 
 "Stockman," answered Odysseus, "you seem to be
 a very well-disposed person, and I can see that you are a man of sense.
 Therefore I will tell you, and will confirm my words with an oath: by Zeus, the
 chief of all gods, and by that hearth of Odysseus to which I am now come,
 Odysseus shall return before you leave this place, and if you are so minded you
 shall see him killing the suitors who are now masters here." 

 
 "If Zeus were to bring this to pass," replied
 the stockman, "you should see how I would do my very utmost to help him." 

 
 And in like manner Eumaios prayed that Odysseus
 might return home.

Thus did they converse. Meanwhile the suitors
 were hatching a plot to murder Telemakhos: but a bird flew near them on their
 left hand - an eagle with a dove in its talons. On this Amphinomos said, "My
 friends, this plot of ours to murder Telemakhos will not succeed; let us go to
 dinner instead." 

 
 The others assented, so they went inside and
 laid their cloaks on the benches and seats. They sacrificed the sheep, goats,
 pigs, and the heifer, and when the inward meats were cooked they served them
 round. They mixed the wine in the mixing-bowls, and the swineherd gave every
 man his cup, while Philoitios handed round the bread in the breadbaskets, and
 Melanthios poured them out their wine. Then they laid their hands upon the good
 things that were before them. 

 
 Telemakhos deliberately [ kerdos ] made Odysseus sit in the part of the room that was paved
 with stone; he gave him a shabby-looking seat at a little table to himself, and
 had his portion of the inward meats brought to him, with his wine in a gold
 cup. "Sit there," said he, "and drink your wine among the great people. I will
 put a stop to the gibes and blows of the suitors, for this is no public house,
 but belongs to Odysseus, and has passed from him to me. Therefore, suitors,
 keep your hands and your tongues to yourselves, or there will be trouble." 

 
 The suitors bit their lips, and marveled at the
 boldness of his speech; then Antinoos said, "We do not like such language but
 we will put up with it, for Telemakhos is threatening us in good earnest. If
 Zeus had let us we should have put a stop to his brave talk ere now."

Thus spoke Antinoos, but Telemakhos heeded him
 not. Meanwhile the heralds were bringing the holy hecatomb through the city,
 and the Achaeans gathered under the shady grove of Apollo. 

 
 Then they roasted the outer meat, drew it off
 the spits, gave every man his portion, and feasted to their hearts’ content;
 those who waited at table gave Odysseus exactly the same portion as the others
 had, for Telemakhos had told them to do so. 

 
 But Athena would not let the suitors for one
 moment drop their insolence, for she wanted Odysseus to become still more
 bitter [ akhos ] against them. Now there happened to
 be among them a ribald fellow, whose name was Ktesippos, and who came from
 Same. This man, confident in his great wealth, was paying court to the wife of
 Odysseus, and said to the suitors, "Hear what I have to say. The stranger has
 already had as large a portion as any one else; this is well, for it is not
 right nor reasonable [ dikaios ] to ill-treat any
 guest of Telemakhos who comes here. I will, however, make him a present on my
 own account, that he may have something to give to the bath-woman, or to some
 other of Odysseus’ servants." 

 
 As he spoke he picked up a heifer's foot from
 the meat-basket in which it lay, and threw it at Odysseus, but Odysseus turned
 his head a little aside, and avoided it, smiling sardonically as he did so, and
 it hit the wall, not him. On this Telemakhos spoke fiercely to Ktesippos, "It
 is a good thing for you," said he, "that the stranger turned his head so that
 you missed him. If you had hit him I should have run you through with my spear,
 and your father would have had to see about getting you buried rather than
 married in this house. So let me have no more unseemly behavior from any of
 you, for I am grown up now to the knowledge of good and evil and understand
 what is going on, instead of being the child that I have been heretofore. I
 have long seen you killing my sheep and making free with my grain and wine: I
 have put up with this, for one man is no match for many, but do me no further
 violence. Still, if you wish to kill me, kill me; I would far rather die than
 see such disgraceful scenes day after day - guests insulted, and men dragging
 the women servants about the house in an unseemly way."

They all held their peace till at last Agelaos
 son of Damastor said, "No one should take offense at what has just been said,
 nor gainsay it, for it is quite reasonable [ dikaios ]. Leave off, therefore, ill-treating the stranger, or any one
 else of the servants who are about the house; I would say, however, a friendly
 word to Telemakhos and his mother, which I trust may commend itself to both.
 ‘As long,’ I would say, ‘as you had ground for hoping that Odysseus would one
 day come home, there will be no nemesis as a result
 of your waiting and suffering the suitors to be in your house. It would have
 been better that he should have returned, but it is now sufficiently clear that
 he will never do so; therefore talk all this quietly over with your mother, and
 tell her to marry the best man, and the one who makes her the most advantageous
 offer. Thus you will yourself be able to manage your own inheritance, and to
 eat and drink in peace, while your mother will look after some other man's
 house, not yours."’ 

 
 To this Telemakhos answered, "By Zeus, Agelaos,
 and by the sorrows of my unhappy father, who has either perished far from
 Ithaca , or is wandering in some
 distant land, I throw no obstacles in the way of my mother's marriage; on the
 contrary I urge her to choose whomsoever she will, and I will give her
 numberless gifts into the bargain, but I dare not insist point blank that she
 shall leave the house against her own wishes. Heaven forbid that I should do
 this." 

 
 Athena now made the suitors fall to laughing
 immoderately, and set their wits wandering; but they were laughing with a
 forced laughter. Their meat became smeared with blood; their eyes filled with
 tears, and their hearts were heavy with forebodings. Theoklymenos saw this and
 said, "Unhappy men, what is it that ails you? There is a shroud of darkness
 drawn over you from head to foot, your cheeks are wet with tears; the air is
 alive with wailing voices; the walls and roof-beams drip blood; the gate of the
 cloisters and the court beyond them are full of ghosts trooping down into the
 night of Hades; the sun is blotted out of heaven, and a blighting gloom is over
 all the land." 

 
 Thus did he speak, and they all of them laughed
 heartily. Eurymakhos then said, "This stranger who has lately come here has
 lost his senses. Servants, turn him out into the streets, since he finds it so
 dark here."

But Theoklymenos said, "Eurymakhos, you need
 not send any one with me. I have eyes, ears, and a pair of feet of my own, to
 say nothing of an understanding mind [ noos ]. I will
 take these out of the house with me, for I see mischief overhanging you, from
 which not one of you men who are insulting people and plotting ill deeds in the
 house of Odysseus will be able to escape." 

 
 He left the house as he spoke, and went back to
 Peiraios who gave him welcome, but the suitors kept looking at one another and
 provoking Telemakhos by laughing at the strangers. One insolent fellow said to
 him, "Telemakhos, you are not happy in your guests; first you have this
 importunate tramp, who comes begging bread and wine and has no skill for work
 or for hard fighting [ biê ], but is perfectly
 useless, and now here is another fellow who is setting himself up as a seer.
 Let me persuade you, for it will be much better, to put them on board ship and
 send them off to the Sicels to sell for what they will bring." 

 
 Telemakhos gave him no heed, but sat silently
 watching his father, expecting every moment that he would begin his attack upon
 the suitors. 

 
 Meanwhile the daughter of Ikarios, wise
 Penelope, had had a rich seat placed for her facing the court and cloisters, so
 that she could hear what every one was saying. The dinner indeed had been
 prepared amid merriment; it had been both good and abundant, for they had
 sacrificed many victims; but the supper was yet to come, and nothing can be
 conceived more gruesome than the meal which a goddess and a brave man were soon
 to lay before them - for they had brought their doom upon themselves.

Athena now put it in Penelope's mind to make the
 suitors try their skill with the bow and with the iron axes, in contest among
 themselves, as a means of bringing about their destruction. She went upstairs
 and got the store room key, which was made of bronze and had a handle of ivory;
 she then went with her maidens into the store room at the end of the house,
 where her husband's treasures of gold, bronze, and wrought iron were kept, and
 where was also his bow, and the quiver full of deadly arrows that had been
 given him by a friend whom he had met in Lacedaemon - Iphitos the son of Eurytos. The two fell in with
 one another in Messene at the
 house of Ortilokhos, where Odysseus was staying in order to recover a debt that
 was owing from the whole dêmos ; for the Messenians
 had carried off three hundred sheep from Ithaca , and had sailed away with them and with their shepherds.
 In quest of these Odysseus took a long journey while still quite young, for his
 father and the other chieftains sent him on a mission to recover them. Iphitos
 had gone there also to try and get back twelve brood mares that he had lost,
 and the mule foals that were running with them. These mares were the death of
 him in the end, for when he went to the house of Zeus’ son, mighty Herakles,
 who performed such prodigies of valor, Herakles to his shame killed him, though
 he was his guest, for he feared not heaven's vengeance, nor yet respected his
 own table which he had set before Iphitos, but killed him in spite of
 everything, and kept the mares himself. It was when claiming these that Iphitos
 met Odysseus, and gave him the bow which mighty Eurytos had been used to carry,
 and which on his death had been left by him to his son. Odysseus gave him in
 return a sword and a spear, and this was the beginning of a fast friendship,
 although they never visited at one another's houses, for Zeus’ son Herakles
 killed Iphitos ere they could do so. This bow, then, given him by Iphitos, had
 not been taken with him by Odysseus when he sailed for Troy ; he had used it so long as he had been
 at home, but had left it behind as having been a keepsake from a valued
 friend. 

 
 Penelope presently reached the oak threshold of
 the store room; the carpenter had planed this duly, and had drawn a line on it
 so as to get it quite straight; he had then set the door posts into it and hung
 the doors. She loosed the strap from the handle of the door, put in the key,
 and drove it straight home to shoot back the bolts that held the doors; these
 flew open with a noise like a bull bellowing in a meadow, and Penelope stepped
 upon the raised platform, where the chests stood in which the fair linen and
 clothes were laid by along with fragrant herbs: reaching thence, she took down
 the bow with its bow case from the peg on which it hung. She sat down with it
 on her knees, weeping bitterly as she took the bow out of its case, and when
 her tears had relieved her, she went to the room where the suitors were,
 carrying the bow and the quiver, with the many deadly arrows that were inside
 it. Along with her came her maidens, bearing a chest that contained much iron
 and bronze which her husband had won as prizes. When she reached the suitors,
 she stood by one of the bearing-posts supporting the roof of the room, holding
 a veil before her face, and with a maid on either side of her. Then she
 said: 

 
 "Listen to me you suitors, who persist in
 abusing the hospitality of this house because its owner has been long absent,
 and without other pretext than that you want to marry me; this, then, being the
 prize that you are contending for, I will bring out the mighty bow of Odysseus,
 and whomsoever of you shall string it most easily and send his arrow through
 each one of twelve axes, him will I follow and quit this house of my lawful
 husband, so goodly, and so abounding in wealth. But even so I doubt not that I
 shall remember it in my dreams." 

 
 As she spoke, she told Eumaios to set the bow
 and the pieces of iron before the suitors, and Eumaios wept as he took them to
 do as she had bidden him. Hard by, the stockman wept also when he saw his
 master's bow, but Antinoos scolded them. "You country louts," said he, "silly
 simpletons; why should you add to the sorrows of your mistress by crying in
 this way? She has enough to grieve her in the loss of her husband; sit still,
 therefore, and eat your dinners in silence, or go outside if you want to cry,
 and leave the bow behind you. We suitors shall have to contend [ athlos ] for it with might and main, for we shall find
 it no light matter to string such a bow as this is. There is not a man of us
 all who is such another as Odysseus; for I have seen him and remember him,
 though I was then only a child."

This was what he said, but all the time he was
 expecting to be able to string the bow and shoot through the iron, whereas in
 fact he was to be the first that should taste of the arrows from the hands of
 Odysseus, whom he was dishonoring in his own house - egging the others on to do
 so also. 

 
 Then Telemakhos spoke. "Great heavens!" he
 exclaimed, "Zeus must have robbed me of my senses. Here is my dear and
 excellent mother saying she will quit this house and marry again, yet I am
 laughing and enjoying myself as though there were nothing happening. But,
 suitors, as the contest [ athlos ] has been agreed
 upon, let it go forward. It is for a woman whose peer is not to be found in
 Pylos , Argos , or Mycenae , nor yet in Ithaca nor on the mainland. You know this as well as I do; what
 need have I to speak in praise [ ainos ] of my
 mother? Come on, then, make no excuses for delay, but let us see whether you
 can string the bow or no. I too will make trial of it, for if I can string it
 and shoot through the iron, I shall not suffer my mother to quit this house
 with a stranger, not if I can win the prizes which my father won before
 me." 

 
 As he spoke he sprang from his seat, threw his
 crimson cloak from him, and took his sword from his shoulder. First he set the
 axes in a row, in a long groove which he had dug for them, and had made
 straight by line. Then he stamped the earth tight round them, and everyone was
 surprised when they saw him set up so orderly, though he had never seen
 anything of the kind before. This done, he went on to the pavement to make
 trial of the bow; thrice did he tug at it, trying with all his might to draw
 the string, and thrice he had to rest his strength [ biê ], though he had hoped to string the bow and shoot through the
 iron. He was trying forcefully [ biê ] for the fourth
 time, and would have strung it had not Odysseus made a sign to check him in
 spite of all his eagerness. So he said: 

 
 "Alas! I shall either be always feeble and of
 no prowess, or I am too young, and have not yet reached my full strength so as
 to be able to hold my own if any one attacks me. You others, therefore, who are
 stronger [ biê ] than I, make trial of the bow and
 get this contest [ athlos ] settled."

On this he put the bow down, letting it lean
 against the door [that led into the house] with the arrow standing against the
 top of the bow. Then he sat down on the seat from which he had risen, and
 Antinoos said: 

 
 "Come on each of you in his turn, going towards
 the right from the place at which the cupbearer begins when he is handing round
 the wine." 

 
 The rest agreed, and Leiodes son of Oinops was
 the first to rise. He was sacrificial priest to the suitors, and sat in the
 corner near the mixing-bowl. He was the only man to whom their evil deeds were
 hateful [ ekhthra ]and was indignant with the others.
 He was now the first to take the bow and arrow, so he went on to the pavement
 to make his trial, but he could not string the bow, for his hands were weak and
 unused to hard work, they therefore soon grew tired, and he said to the
 suitors, "My friends, I cannot string it; let another have it; this bow shall
 take the life and soul [ psukhê ] out of many a chief
 among us, for it is better to die than to live after having missed the prize
 that we have so long striven for, and which has brought us so long together.
 Some one of us is even now hoping and praying that he may marry Penelope, but
 when he has seen this bow and tried it, let him woo and make bridal offerings
 to some other woman, and let Penelope marry whoever makes her the best offer
 and whose lot it is to win her." 

 
 On this he put the bow down, letting it lean
 against the door, with the arrow standing against the tip of the bow. Then he
 took his seat again on the seat from which he had risen; and Antinoos rebuked
 him saying:

"Leiodes, what are you talking about? Your
 words are monstrous and intolerable; it makes me angry to listen to you. Shall,
 then, this bow take the life [ psukhê ] of many a
 chief among us, merely because you cannot bend it yourself? True, you were not
 born to be an archer, but there are others who will soon string it." 

 
 Then he said to Melanthios the goatherd, "Look
 sharp, light a fire in the court, and set a seat hard by with a sheep skin on
 it; bring us also a large ball of lard, from what they have in the house. Let
 us warm the bow and grease it; we will then make trial of it again, and bring
 the contest [ athlos ] to an end." 

 
 Melanthios lit the fire, and set a seat covered
 with sheep skins beside it. He also brought a great ball of lard from what they
 had in the house, and the suitors warmed the bow and again made trial of it,
 but they were none of them nearly strong [ biê ]
 enough to string it. Nevertheless there still remained Antinoos and Eurymakhos,
 who were the ringleaders among the suitors and much the foremost in aretê among them all. 

 
 Then the swineherd and the stockman left the
 cloisters together, and Odysseus followed them. When they had got outside the
 gates and the outer yard, Odysseus said to them quietly:

"Stockman, and you swineherd, I have something
 in my mind which I am in doubt whether to say or no; but I think I will say it.
 What manner of men would you be to stand by Odysseus, if some god should bring
 him back here all of a sudden? Say which you are disposed to do - to side with
 the suitors, or with Odysseus?" 

 
 "Father Zeus," answered the stockman, "would
 indeed that you might so ordain it. If some daimôn 
 were but to bring Odysseus back, you should see with what might and main I
 would fight for him." 

 
 In like words Eumaios prayed to all the gods
 that Odysseus might return; when, therefore, he saw for certain what mind
 [ noos ] they were of, Odysseus said, "It is I,
 Odysseus, who am here. I have suffered much, but at last, in the twentieth
 year, I am come back to my own country. I find that you two alone of all my
 servants are glad that I should do so, for I have not heard any of the others
 praying for my return. To you two, therefore, will I unfold the truth [ alêtheia ] as it shall be. If heaven shall deliver the
 suitors into my hands, I will find wives for both of you, will give you house
 and holding close to my own, and you shall be to me as though you were brothers
 and friends of Telemakhos. I will now give you a convincing proof [ sêma ] that you may know me and be assured. See, here
 is the scar from the boar's tooth that ripped me when I was out hunting on
 Mount Parnassus with the sons of Autolykos." 

 
 As he spoke he drew his rags aside from the
 great scar, and when they had examined it thoroughly, they both of them wept
 about Odysseus, threw their arms round him and kissed his head and shoulders,
 while Odysseus kissed their hands and faces in return. The sun would have gone
 down upon their mourning if Odysseus had not checked them and said:

"Cease your weeping, lest some one should come
 outside and see us, and tell those who are within. When you go in, do so
 separately, not both together; I will go first, and do you follow afterwards;
 Let this moreover be the sign [ sêma ] between us;
 the suitors will all of them try to prevent me from getting hold of the bow and
 quiver; do you, therefore, Eumaios, place it in my hands when you are carrying
 it about, and tell the women to close the doors of their apartment. If they
 hear any groaning or uproar as of men fighting about the house, they must not
 come out; they must keep quiet, and stay where they are at their work. And I
 charge you, Philoitios, to make fast the doors of the outer court, and to bind
 them securely at once." 

 
 When he had thus spoken, he went back to the
 house and took the seat that he had left. Presently, his two servants followed
 him inside. 

 
 At this moment the bow was in the hands of
 Eurymakhos, who was warming it by the fire, but even so he could not string it,
 and he was greatly grieved. He heaved a deep sigh and said, "I grieve [ akhos ] for myself and for us all; I grieve that I
 shall have to forgo the marriage, but I do not care nearly so much about this,
 for there are plenty of other women in Ithaca and elsewhere; what I feel most is the fact of our being
 so inferior to Odysseus in strength [ biê ] that we
 cannot string his bow. This will disgrace us in the eyes of those who are yet
 unborn." 

 
 "It shall not be so, Eurymakhos," said
 Antinoos, "and you know it yourself. To-day is the feast of Apollo throughout
 all the dêmos ; who can string a bow on such a day
 as this? Put it on one side - as for the axes they can stay where they are, for
 no one is likely to come to the house and take them away: let the cupbearer go
 round with his cups, that we may make our drink-offerings and drop this matter
 of the bow; we will tell Melanthios to bring us in some goats tomorrow - the
 best he has; we can then offer thigh bones to Apollo the mighty archer, and
 again make trial of the bow, so as to bring the contest [ athlos ] to an end."

The rest approved his words, and thereon men
 servants poured water over the hands of the guests, while pages filled the
 mixing-bowls with wine and water and handed it round after giving every man his
 drink-offering. Then, when they had made their offerings and had drunk each as
 much as he desired, Odysseus craftily said: 

 
 "Suitors of the illustrious queen, listen that
 I may speak even as I am minded. I appeal more especially to Eurymakhos, and to
 Antinoos who has just spoken with so much reason. Cease shooting for the
 present and leave the matter to the gods, but in the morning let heaven give
 victory to whom it will. For the moment, however, give me the bow that I may
 prove the power of my hands among you all, and see whether I still have as much
 strength as I used to have, or whether travel and neglect have made an end of
 it." 

 
 This made them all very angry, for they feared
 he might string the bow; Antinoos therefore rebuked him fiercely saying,
 "Wretched creature, you have not so much as a grain of sense in your whole
 body; you ought to think yourself lucky in being allowed to dine unharmed among
 your betters, without having any smaller portion served you than we others have
 had, and in being allowed to hear our conversation. No other beggar or stranger
 has been allowed to hear what we say among ourselves; the wine must have been
 doing you a mischief, as it does with all those drink immoderately. It was wine
 that inflamed the Centaur Eurytion when he was staying with Peirithoos among
 the Lapiths. When the wine had got into his head he went mad and did ill deeds
 about the house of Peirithoos; this grieved [ akhos ]
 the heroes who were there assembled, so they rushed at him and cut off his ears
 and nostrils; then they dragged him through the doorway out of the house, so he
 went away crazed, and bore the burden [ atê ] of his
 crime, bereft of understanding. Henceforth, therefore, there was war between
 humankind and the centaurs, but he brought it upon himself through his own
 drunkenness. In like manner I can tell you that it will go hardly with you if
 you string the bow: you will find no mercy from any one in our dêmos , for we shall at once ship you off to king
 Echetos, who kills every one that comes near him: you will never get away
 alive, so drink and keep quiet without getting into a quarrel with men younger
 than yourself." 

 
 Penelope then spoke to him. "Antinoos," said
 she, "it is not right [ dikaios ] that you should
 ill-treat any guest of Telemakhos who comes to this house. If the stranger
 should prove strong [ biê ] enough to string the
 mighty bow of Odysseus, can you suppose that he would take me home with him and
 make me his wife? Even the man himself can have no such idea in his mind: none
 of you need let that disturb his feasting; it would be out of all reason."

"Queen Penelope," answered Eurymakhos, "we do
 not suppose that this man will take you away with him; it is impossible; but we
 are afraid lest some of the baser sort, men or women among the Achaeans, should
 go gossiping about and say, ‘These suitors are a feeble folk; they are paying
 court to the wife of a brave man whose bow not one of them was able to string,
 and yet a beggarly tramp who came to the house strung it at once and sent an
 arrow through the iron.’ This is what will be said, and it will be a scandal
 against us." 

 
 "Eurymakhos," Penelope answered, "people who
 persist in eating up the estate of a great chieftain and dishonoring his house
 must not expect others in the dêmos to think well
 of them. Why then should you mind if men talk as you think they will? This
 stranger is strong and well-built, he says moreover that he is of noble birth.
 Give him the bow, and let us see whether he can string it or no. I say - and it
 shall surely be - that if Apollo grants him the glory of stringing it, I will
 give him a cloak and shirt of good wear, with a javelin to keep off dogs and
 robbers, and a sharp sword. I will also give him sandals, and will see him sent
 safely wherever he wants to go." 

 
 Then Telemakhos said, "Mother, I am the only
 man either in Ithaca or in the islands
 that are over against Elis who has the right to let any one have the bow or to
 refuse it. No one shall force me one way or the other, not even though I choose
 to make the stranger a present of the bow outright, and let him take it away
 with him. Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with your daily duties,
 your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants. This bow is a man's
 matter, and mine above all others, for it is I who am master here." 

 
 She went wondering back into the house, and
 laid her son's saying in her heart. Then going upstairs with her handmaids into
 her room, she mourned her dear husband till Athena sent sweet sleep over her
 eyelids.

The swineherd now took up the bow and was for
 taking it to Odysseus, but the suitors clamored at him from all parts of the
 cloisters, and one of them said, "You idiot, where are you taking the bow to?
 Are you out of your wits? If Apollo and the other gods will answer our prayer,
 your own boarhounds shall get you into some quiet little place, and worry you
 to death." 

 
 Eumaios was frightened at the outcry they all
 raised, so he put the bow down then and there, but Telemakhos shouted out at
 him from the other side of the cloisters, and threatened him saying, "Father
 Eumaios, bring the bow on in spite of them, or young as I am I will pelt you
 with stones back to the country, for I am the stronger [ biê ] man of the two. I wish I was as much stronger than all the
 other suitors in the house as I am than you, I would soon send some of them off
 sick and sorry, for they mean mischief." 

 
 Thus did he speak, and they all of them laughed
 heartily, which put them in a better humor with Telemakhos; so Eumaios brought
 the bow on and placed it in the hands of Odysseus. When he had done this, he
 called Eurykleia apart and said to her, "Eurykleia, Telemakhos says you are to
 close the doors of the women's apartments. If they hear any groaning or uproar
 as of men fighting about the house, they are not to come out, but are to keep
 quiet and stay where they are at their work." 

 
 Eurykleia did as she was told and closed the
 doors of the women's apartments.

Meanwhile Philoitios slipped quietly out and
 made fast the gates of the outer court. There was a ship's cable of papyrus
 fiber lying in the gatehouse, so he made the gates fast with it and then came
 in again, resuming the seat that he had left, and keeping an eye on Odysseus,
 who had now got the bow in his hands, and was turning it every way about, and
 proving it all over to see whether the worms had been eating into its two horns
 during his absence. Then would one turn towards his neighbor saying, "This is
 some tricky old bow-fancier; either he has got one like it at home, or he wants
 to make one, in such workmanlike style does the old vagabond handle it." 

 
 Another said, "I hope he may be no more
 successful in other things than he is likely to be in stringing this bow." 

 
 But Odysseus, when he had taken it up and
 examined it all over, strung it as easily as a skilled bard strings a new peg
 of his lyre and makes the twisted gut fast at both ends. Then he took it in his
 right hand to prove the string, and it sang sweetly under his touch like the
 twittering of a swallow. The suitors were dismayed [ akhos ], and turned color as they heard it; at that moment, moreover,
 Zeus thundered loudly as a sign [ sêma ], and the
 heart of Odysseus rejoiced as he heard the omen that the son of scheming Kronos
 had sent him. 

 
 He took an arrow that was lying upon the table
 - for those which the Achaeans were so shortly about to taste were all inside
 the quiver - he laid it on the center-piece of the bow, and drew the notch of
 the arrow and the string toward him, still seated on his seat. When he had
 taken aim he let fly, and his arrow pierced every one of the handle-holes of
 the axes from the first onwards till it had gone right through them, and into
 the outer courtyard. Then he said to Telemakhos:

"Your guest has not disgraced you, Telemakhos.
 I did not miss what I aimed at, and I was not long in stringing my bow. I am
 still strong, and not as the suitors mock me for being. Now, however, it is
 time [ hôra ] for the Achaeans to prepare supper
 while there is still daylight, and then otherwise to disport themselves with
 song and dance which are the crowning ornaments of a banquet." 

 
 As he spoke he made a sign with his eyebrows,
 and Telemakhos girded on his sword, grasped his spear, and stood armed beside
 his father's seat.

Then Odysseus tore off his rags, and sprang on to
 the broad pavement with his bow and his quiver full of arrows. He shed the
 arrows on to the ground at his feet and said, "The mighty contest [ athlos ] is at an end. I will now see whether Apollo
 will grant it to me to hit another mark which no man has yet hit." 

 
 On this he aimed a deadly arrow at Antinoos, who
 was about to take up a two-handled gold cup to drink his wine and already had
 it in his hands. He had no thought of death - who amongst all the revelers
 would think that one man, however brave, would stand alone among so many and
 kill him? The arrow struck Antinoos in the throat, and the point went clean
 through his neck, so that he fell over and the cup dropped from his hand, while
 a thick stream of blood gushed from his nostrils. He kicked the table from him
 and upset the things on it, so that the bread and roasted meats were all soiled
 as they fell over on to the ground. The suitors were in an uproar when they saw
 that a man had been hit; they sprang in dismay one and all of them from their
 seats and looked everywhere towards the walls, but there was neither shield nor
 spear, and they rebuked Odysseus very angrily. "Stranger," said they, "you
 shall pay for shooting people in this way: you shall see no other contest
 [ athlos ]; you are a doomed man; he whom you have
 slain was the foremost youth in Ithaca , and the vultures shall devour you for having killed
 him." 

 
 Thus they spoke, for they thought that he had
 killed Antinoos by mistake, and did not perceive that death was hanging over
 the head of every one of them. But Odysseus glared at them and said: 

 
 "Dogs, did you think that I should not come back
 from the dêmos of the Trojans? You have wasted my
 substance, have forced my women servants to lie with you, and have wooed my
 wife while I was still living. You have feared neither the gods nor that there
 would be future nemesis from men, and now you shall
 die."

They turned pale with fear as he spoke, and
 every man looked round about to see whither he might flee for safety, but
 Eurymakhos alone spoke. 

 
 "If you are Odysseus," said he, "then what you
 have said is just. We have done much wrong on your lands and in your house. But
 Antinoos, who was the head and front of the offending [ aitios ], lies low already. It was all his doing. It was not that he
 wanted to marry Penelope; he did not so much care about that; what he wanted
 was something quite different, and Zeus has not granted it to him; he wanted to
 kill your son and to be chief man in Ithaca . Now, therefore, that he has met the death which was his
 due, spare the lives of your people. We will make everything good among
 ourselves in this district [ dêmos ], and pay you in
 full for all that we have eaten and drunk. Each one of us shall pay you a fine
 worth twenty oxen, and we will keep on giving you gold and bronze till your
 heart is softened. Until we have done this no one can complain of your being
 enraged against us." 

 
 Odysseus again glared at him and said, "Though
 you should give me all that you have in the world both now and all that you
 ever shall have, I will not stay my hand till I have paid all of you in full.
 You must fight, or flee for your lives; and flee, not a man of you shall." 

 
 Their hearts sank as they heard him, but
 Eurymakhos again spoke saying:

"My friends, this man will give us no quarter.
 He will stand where he is and shoot us down till he has killed every man among
 us. Let us then show fight; draw your swords, and hold up the tables to shield
 you from his arrows. Let us have at him with a rush, to drive him from the
 pavement and doorway: we can then get through into the town, and raise such an
 alarm as shall soon stay his shooting." 

 
 As he spoke he drew his keen blade of bronze,
 sharpened on both sides, and with a loud cry sprang towards Odysseus, but
 Odysseus instantly shot an arrow into his breast that caught him by the nipple
 and fixed itself in his liver. He dropped his sword and fell doubled up over
 his table. The cup and all the meats went over on to the ground as he smote the
 earth with his forehead in the agonies of death, and he kicked the stool with
 his feet until his eyes were closed in darkness. 

 
 Then Amphinomos drew his sword and made straight
 at Odysseus to try and get him away from the door; but Telemakhos was too quick
 for him, and struck him from behind; the spear caught him between the shoulders
 and went right through his chest, so that he fell heavily to the ground and
 struck the earth with his forehead. Then Telemakhos sprang away from him,
 leaving his spear still in the body, for he feared that if he stayed to draw it
 out, some one of the Achaeans might come up and hack at him with his sword, or
 knock him down, so he set off at a run, and immediately was at his father's
 side. Then he said: 

 
 "Father, let me bring you a shield, two spears,
 and a brass helmet for your temples. I will arm myself as well, and will bring
 other armor for the swineherd and the stockman, for we had better be
 armed."

"Run and fetch them," answered Odysseus, "while
 my arrows hold out, or when I am alone they may get me away from the door." 

 
 Telemakhos did as his father said, and went off
 to the store room where the armor was kept. He chose four shields, eight
 spears, and four brass helmets with horse-hair plumes. He brought them with all
 speed to his father, and armed himself first, while the stockman and the
 swineherd also put on their armor, and took their places near Odysseus.
 Meanwhile Odysseus, as long as his arrows lasted, had been shooting the suitors
 one by one, and they fell thick on one another: when his arrows gave out, he
 set the bow to stand against the end wall of the house by the door post, and
 hung a shield four hides thick about his shoulders; on his comely head he set
 his helmet, well wrought with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly
 above it, and he grasped two redoubtable bronze-shod spears. 

 
 Now there was a trap door on the wall, while at
 one end of the pavement there was an exit leading to a narrow passage, and this
 exit was closed by a well-made door. Odysseus told Philoitios to stand by this
 door and guard it, for only one person could attack it at a time. But Agelaos
 shouted out, "Cannot some one go up to the trap door and tell the people what
 is going on? Help would come at once, and we should soon make an end of this
 man and his shooting." 

 
 "This may not be, Agelaos," answered
 Melanthios, "the mouth of the narrow passage is dangerously near the entrance
 to the outer court. One brave man could prevent any number from getting in. But
 I know what I will do, I will bring you arms from the store room, for I am sure
 it is there that Odysseus and his son have put them."

On this the goatherd Melanthios went by back
 passages to the store room of Odysseus, house. There he chose twelve shields,
 with as many helmets and spears, and brought them back as fast as he could to
 give them to the suitors. Odysseus’ heart began to fail him when he saw the
 suitors putting on their armor and brandishing their spears. He saw the
 greatness of the danger, and said to Telemakhos, "Some one of the women inside
 is helping the suitors against us, or it may be Melanthios." 

 
 Telemakhos answered, "The fault [ aitios ], father, is mine, and mine only; I left the
 store room door open, and they have kept a sharper look out than I have. Go,
 Eumaios, put the door to, and see whether it is one of the women who is doing
 this, or whether, as I suspect, it is Melanthios the son of Dolios." 

 
 Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Melanthios
 was again going to the store room to fetch more armor, but the swineherd saw
 him and said to Odysseus who was beside him, "Odysseus, noble son of Laertes , it is that scoundrel Melanthios,
 just as we suspected, who is going to the store room. Say, shall I kill him, if
 I can get the better of him, or shall I bring him here that you may take your
 own revenge for all the many wrongs that he has done in your house?" 

 
 Odysseus answered, "Telemakhos and I will hold
 these suitors in check, no matter what they do; go back both of you and bind
 Melanthios’ hands and feet behind him. Throw him into the store room and make
 the door fast behind you; then fasten a noose about his body, and string him
 close up to the rafters from a high bearing-post, that he may linger on in an
 agony."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had
 said; they went to the store room, which they entered before Melanthios saw
 them, for he was busy searching for arms in the innermost part of the room, so
 the two took their stand on either side of the door and waited. By and by
 Melanthios came out with a helmet in one hand, and an old dry-rotted shield in
 the other, which had been borne by Laertes when he was young, but which had been long since thrown
 aside, and the straps had become unsewn; on this the two seized him, dragged
 him back by the hair, and threw him struggling to the ground. They bent his
 hands and feet well behind his back, and bound them tight with a painful bond
 as Odysseus had told them; then they fastened a noose about his body and strung
 him up from a high pillar till he was close up to the rafters, and over him did
 you then vaunt, O swineherd Eumaios, saying, "Melanthios, you will pass the
 night on a soft bed as you deserve. You will know very well when morning comes
 from the streams of Okeanos, and it is time for you to be driving in your goats
 for the suitors to feast on." 

 
 There, then, they left him in very cruel
 bondage, and having put on their armor they closed the door behind them and
 went back to take their places by the side of Odysseus; whereon the four men
 stood in the room, fierce and full of fury; nevertheless, those who were in the
 body of the court were still both brave and many. Then Zeus’ daughter Athena
 came up to them, having assumed the voice and form of Mentor. Odysseus was glad
 when he saw her and said, "Mentor, lend me your help, and forget not your old
 comrade, nor the many good turns he has done you. Besides, you are my
 age-mate." 

 
 But all the time he felt sure it was Athena,
 and the suitors from the other side raised an uproar when they saw her. Agelaos
 was the first to reproach her. "Mentor," he cried, "do not let Odysseus beguile
 you into siding with him and fighting the suitors. This is what will be our
 plan [ noos ]: when we have killed these people,
 father and son, we will kill you too. You shall pay for it with your head, and
 when we have killed you, we will take all you have, in doors or out, and merge
 it with Odysseus’ property; we will not let your sons live in your house, nor
 your daughters, nor shall your widow continue to live in the city of Ithaca ." 

 
 This made Athena still more furious, so she
 scolded Odysseus very angrily. "Odysseus," said she, "your strength and prowess
 are no longer what they were when you fought for nine long years among the
 Trojans about the noble lady Helen. You killed many a man in those days, and it
 was through your stratagem that Priam's city was taken. How comes it that you
 are so lamentably less valiant now that you are on your own ground, face to
 face with the suitors in your own house? Come on, my good fellow, stand by my
 side and see how Mentor, son of Alkinoos shall fight your foes and requite your
 kindnesses conferred upon him."

But she would not give him full victory as yet,
 for she wished still further to prove his own prowess and that of his brave
 son, so she flew up to one of the rafters in the roof of the room and sat upon
 it in the form of a swallow. 

 
 Meanwhile Agelaos son of Damastor, Eurynomos,
 Amphimedon, Demoptolemos, Peisandros, and Polybos son of Polyktor bore the
 brunt of the fight upon the suitors’ side; of all those who were still fighting
 for their lives [ psukhai ], they were by far the
 most excellent in aretê , for the others had already
 fallen under the arrows of Odysseus. Agelaos shouted to them and said, "My
 friends, he will soon have to leave off, for Mentor has gone away after having
 done nothing for him but brag. They are standing at the doors unsupported. Do
 not aim at him all at once, but six of you throw your spears first, and see if
 you cannot cover yourselves with glory by killing him. When he has fallen we
 need not be uneasy about the others." 

 
 They threw their spears as he bade them, but
 Athena made them all of no effect. One hit the door post; another went against
 the door; the pointed shaft of another struck the wall; and as soon as they had
 avoided all the spears of the suitors Odysseus said to his own men, "My
 friends, I should say we too had better let drive into the middle of them, or
 they will crown all the harm they have done us by killing us outright." 

 
 They therefore aimed straight in front of them
 and threw their spears. Odysseus killed Demoptolemos, Telemakhos Euryades,
 Eumaios Elatus, while the stockman killed Peisandros. These all bit the dust,
 and as the others drew back into a corner Odysseus and his men rushed forward
 and regained their spears by drawing them from the bodies of the dead.

The suitors now aimed a second time, but again
 Athena made their weapons for the most part without effect. One hit a
 bearing-post of the room; another went against the door; while the pointed
 shaft of another struck the wall. Still, Amphimedon just took a piece of the
 top skin from off Telemakhos’ wrist, and Ktesippos managed to graze Eumaios’
 shoulder above his shield; but the spear went on and fell to the ground. Then
 Odysseus and his men let drive into the crowd of suitors. Odysseus hit
 Eurydamas, Telemakhos Amphimedon, and Eumaios Polybos. After this the stockman
 hit Ktesippos in the breast, and taunted him saying, "Foul-mouthed son of
 Polytherses, do not be so foolish as to talk wickedly another time, but let
 heaven direct your speech, for the gods are far stronger than men. I make you a
 present of this advice to repay you for the foot which you gave Odysseus when
 he was begging about in his own house." 

 
 Thus spoke the stockman, and Odysseus struck
 the son of Damastor with a spear in close fight, while Telemakhos hit
 Leiokritos son of Euenor in the belly, and the dart went clean through him, so
 that he fell forward full on his face upon the ground. Then Athena from her
 seat on the rafter held up her deadly aegis, and the hearts of the suitors
 quailed. They fled to the other end of the court like a herd of cattle maddened
 by the gadfly in early summer [ hôra ] when the days
 are at their longest. As eagle-beaked, crook-taloned vultures from the
 mountains swoop down on the smaller birds that cower in flocks upon the ground,
 and kill them, for they cannot either fight or flee, and lookers on enjoy the
 sport - even so did Odysseus and his men fall upon the suitors and smite them
 on every side. They made a horrible groaning as their brains were being
 battered in, and the ground seethed with their blood. 

 
 Leiodes then caught the knees of Odysseus and
 said, "Odysseus I beseech you have mercy upon me and spare me. I never wronged
 any of the women in your house either in word or deed, and I tried to stop the
 others. I saw them, but they would not listen, and now they are paying for
 their folly. I was their sacrificing priest; if you kill me, I shall die
 without having done anything to deserve it, and shall have got no thanks [ kharis ] for all the good that I did." 

 
 Odysseus looked sternly at him and answered,
 "If you were their sacrificing priest, you must have prayed many a time that it
 might be long before I got home again [ nostos ], and
 that you might marry my wife and have children by her. Therefore you shall
 die."

With these words he picked up the sword that
 Agelaos had dropped when he was being killed, and which was lying upon the
 ground. Then he struck Leiodes on the back of his neck, so that his head fell
 rolling in the dust while he was yet speaking. 

 
 The minstrel Phemios son of Terpes - he who had
 been forced by the suitors to sing to them - now tried to save his life. He was
 standing near towards the trap door, and held his lyre in his hand. He did not
 know whether to flee out of the room and sit down by the altar of Zeus that was
 in the outer court, and on which both Laertes and Odysseus had offered up the thigh bones of many an
 ox, or whether to go straight up to Odysseus and embrace his knees, but in the
 end he deemed it best to embrace Odysseus’ knees. So he laid his lyre on the
 ground the ground between the mixing-bowl and the silver-studded seat; then
 going up to Odysseus he caught hold of his knees and said, "Odysseus, I beseech
 you have mercy on me and spare me. You will be sorry [ akhos ] for it afterwards if you kill a bard who can sing both for
 gods and men as I can. I make all my lays myself, and heaven visits me with
 every kind of inspiration. I would sing to you as though you were a god, do not
 therefore be in such a hurry to cut my head off. Your own son Telemakhos will
 tell you that I did not want to frequent your house and sing to the suitors
 after their meals, but they were too many and too strong for me, so they made
 me." 

 
 Telemakhos heard him, and at once went up to
 his father. "Hold!" he cried, "the man is guiltless, do him no hurt; and we
 will spare Medon too, who was always good to me when I was a boy, unless
 Philoitios or Eumaios has already killed him, or he has fallen in your way when
 you were raging about the court." 

 
 Medon caught these words of Telemakhos, for he
 was crouching under a seat beneath which he had hidden by covering himself up
 with a freshly flayed heifer's hide, so he threw off the hide, went up to
 Telemakhos, and laid hold of his knees.

"Here I am, my dear sir," said he, "stay your
 hand therefore, and tell your father, or he will kill me in his rage against
 the suitors for having wasted his substance and been so foolishly disrespectful
 to yourself." 

 
 Odysseus smiled at him and answered, "Fear not;
 Telemakhos has saved your life, that you may know in future, and tell other
 people, how greatly better good deeds prosper than evil ones. Go, therefore,
 outside the cloisters into the outer court, and be out of the way of the
 slaughter - you and the bard - while I finish my work here inside." 

 
 The pair went into the outer court as fast as
 they could, and sat down by Zeus’ great altar, looking fearfully round, and
 still expecting that they would be killed. Then Odysseus searched the whole
 court carefully over, to see if anyone had managed to hide himself and was
 still living, but he found them all lying in the dust and weltering in their
 blood. They were like fishes which fishermen have netted out of the sea, and
 thrown upon the beach to lie gasping for water till the heat of the sun makes
 an end of them. Even so were the suitors lying all huddled up one against the
 other. 

 
 Then Odysseus said to Telemakhos, "Call nurse
 Eurykleia; I have something to say to her."

Telemakhos went and knocked at the door of the
 women's room. "Make haste," said he, "you old woman who have been set over all
 the other women in the house. Come outside; my father wishes to speak to
 you." 

 
 When Eurykleia heard this she unfastened the
 door of the women's room and came out, following Telemakhos. She found Odysseus
 among the corpses bespattered with blood and filth like a lion that has just
 been devouring an ox, and his breast and both his cheeks are all bloody, so
 that he is a fearful sight; even so was Odysseus besmirched from head to foot
 with gore. When she saw all the corpses and such a quantity of blood, she was
 beginning to cry out for joy, for she saw that a great deed had been done; but
 Odysseus checked her, "Old woman," said he, "rejoice in silence; restrain
 yourself, and do not make any noise about it; it is an unholy thing to vaunt
 over dead men. Heaven's doom and their own evil deeds have brought these men to
 destruction, for they respected no man in the whole world, neither rich nor
 poor, who came near them, and they have come to a bad end as a punishment for
 their wickedness and folly. Now, however, tell me which of the women in the
 house have misconducted themselves, and who are innocent." 

 
 "I will tell you the truth [ alêtheia ], my son," answered Eurykleia. "There are
 fifty women in the house whom we teach to do things, such as carding wool, and
 all kinds of household work. Of these, twelve in all have misbehaved, and have
 been wanting in respect to me, and also to Penelope. They showed no disrespect
 to Telemakhos, for he has only lately grown and his mother never permitted him
 to give orders to the female servants; but let me go upstairs and tell your
 wife all that has happened, for some god has been sending her to sleep." 

 
 "Do not wake her yet," answered Odysseus, "but
 tell the women who have misconducted themselves to come to me."

Eurykleia left the room to tell the women, and
 make them come to Odysseus; in the meantime he called Telemakhos, the stockman,
 and the swineherd. "Begin," said he, "to remove the dead, and make the women
 help you. Then, get sponges and clean water to swill down the tables and seats.
 When you have thoroughly cleansed the whole cloisters, take the women into the
 space between the domed room and the wall of the outer court, and run them
 through with your swords till they are quite dead, and have forgotten all about
 love and the way in which they used to lie in secret with the suitors." 

 
 On this the women came down in a body, weeping
 and wailing bitterly. First they carried the dead bodies out, and propped them
 up against one another in the gatehouse. Odysseus ordered them about and made
 them do their work quickly, so they had to carry the bodies out. When they had
 done this, they cleaned all the tables and seats with sponges and water, while
 Telemakhos and the two others shoveled up the blood and dirt from the ground,
 and the women carried it all away and put it out of doors. Then when they had
 made the whole place quite clean and orderly, they took the women out and
 hemmed them in the narrow space between the wall of the domed room and that of
 the yard, so that they could not get away: and Telemakhos said to the other
 two, "I shall not let these women die a clean death, for they were insolent to
 me and my mother, and used to sleep with the suitors." 

 
 So saying he made a ship's cable fast to one of
 the bearing-posts that supported the roof of the domed room, and secured it all
 around the building, at a good height, lest any of the women's feet should
 touch the ground; and as thrushes or doves beat against a net that has been set
 for them in a thicket just as they were getting to their nest, and a terrible
 fate awaits them, even so did the women have to put their heads in nooses one
 after the other and die most miserably. Their feet moved convulsively for a
 while, but not for very long. 

 
 As for Melanthios, they took him through the
 room into the inner court. There they cut off his nose and his ears; they drew
 out his vitals and gave them to the dogs raw, and then in their fury they cut
 off his hands and his feet.

When they had done this they washed their hands
 and feet and went back into the house, for all was now over; and Odysseus said
 to the dear old nurse Eurykleia, "Bring me sulfur, which cleanses all
 pollution, and fetch fire also that I may burn it, and purify the cloisters.
 Go, moreover, and tell Penelope to come here with her attendants, and also all
 the maid servants that are in the house." 

 
 "All that you have said is true," answered
 Eurykleia, "but let me bring you some clean clothes - a shirt and cloak. Do not
 keep these rags on your back any longer. It is not right." 

 
 "First light me a fire," replied Odysseus. 

 
 She brought the fire and sulfur, as he had
 bidden her, and Odysseus thoroughly purified the cloisters and both the inner
 and outer courts. Then she went inside to call the women and tell them what had
 happened; whereon they came from their apartment with torches in their hands,
 and pressed round Odysseus to embrace him, kissing his head and shoulders and
 taking hold of his hands. It made him feel as if he should like to weep, for he
 remembered every one of them.

Eurykleia now went upstairs laughing to tell her
 mistress that her dear husband had come home. Her aged knees became young again
 and her feet were nimble for joy as she went up to her mistress and bent over
 her head to speak to her. "Wake up Penelope, my dear child," she exclaimed,
 "and see with your own eyes something that you have been wanting this long time
 past. Odysseus has at last indeed come home again, and has killed the suitors
 who were giving so much trouble in his house, eating up his estate and
 ill-treating his son." 

 
 "My good nurse," answered Penelope, "you must be
 mad. The gods sometimes send some very sensible people out of their minds, and
 make foolish people become sensible. This is what they must have been doing to
 you; for you always used to be a reasonable person. Why should you thus mock me
 when I have trouble enough already - talking such nonsense, and waking me up
 out of a sweet sleep that had taken possession of my eyes and closed them? I
 have never slept so soundly from the day my poor husband went to that city with
 the ill-omened name. Go back again into the women's room; if it had been any
 one else, who had woke me up to bring me such absurd news I should have sent
 her away with a severe scolding. As it is, your age shall protect you." 

 
 "My dear child," answered Eurykleia, "I am not
 mocking you. It is quite true as I tell you that Odysseus is come home again.
 He was the stranger whom they all kept on treating so badly in the room.
 Telemakhos knew all the time that he was come back, but kept his father's
 secret that he might have his revenge on all these wicked people. 

 
 Then Penelope sprang up from her couch, threw
 her arms round Eurykleia, and wept for joy. "But my dear nurse," said she,
 "explain this to me; if he has really come home as you say, how did he manage
 to overcome the wicked suitors single handed, seeing what a number of them
 there always were?"

"I was not there," answered Eurykleia, "and do
 not know; I only heard them groaning while they were being killed. We sat
 crouching and huddled up in a corner of the women's room with the doors closed,
 till your son came to fetch me because his father sent him. Then I found
 Odysseus standing over the corpses that were lying on the ground all round him,
 one on top of the other. You would have enjoyed it if you could have seen him
 standing there all bespattered with blood and filth, and looking just like a
 lion. But the corpses are now all piled up in the gatehouse that is in the
 outer court, and Odysseus has lit a great fire to purify the house with sulfur.
 He has sent me to call you, so come with me that you may both be happy together
 after all; for now at last the desire of your heart has been fulfilled; your
 husband is come home to find both wife and son alive and well, and to take his
 revenge in his own house on the suitors who behaved so badly to him." 

 
 "‘My dear nurse," said Penelope, "do not exult
 too confidently over all this. You know how delighted every one would be to see
 Odysseus come home - more particularly myself, and the son who has been born to
 both of us; but what you tell me cannot be really true. It is some god who is
 angry with the suitors for their great wickedness [ hubris ], and has made an end of them; for they respected no man in
 the whole world, neither rich nor poor, who came near them, who came near them,
 and they have come to a bad end in consequence of their iniquity. Odysseus is
 dead far away from the Achaean land; he will never return home again [ nostos ]." 

 
 Then nurse Eurykleia said, "My child, what are
 you talking about? But you were all hard of belief and have made up your mind
 that your husband is never coming, although he is in the house and by his own
 fire side at this very moment. Besides I can give you another proof [ sêma ]; when I was washing him I perceived the scar
 which the wild boar gave him, and I wanted to tell you about it, but in his
 wisdom [ noos ] he would not let me, and clapped his
 hands over my mouth; so come with me and I will make this bargain with you - if
 I am deceiving you, you may have me killed by the cruelest death you can think
 of." 

 
 "My dear nurse," said Penelope, "however wise
 you may be you can hardly fathom the counsels of the gods. Nevertheless, we
 will go in search of my son, that I may see the corpses of the suitors, and the
 man who has killed them."

On this she came down from her upper room, and
 while doing so she considered whether she should keep at a distance from her
 husband and question him, or whether she should at once go up to him and
 embrace him. When, however, she had crossed the stone floor of the room, she
 sat down opposite Odysseus by the fire, against the wall at right angles to
 that by which she had entered, while Odysseus sat near one of the
 bearing-posts, looking upon the ground, and waiting to see what his wife would
 say to him when she saw him. For a long time she sat silent and as one lost in
 amazement. At one moment she looked him full in the face, but then again
 directly, she was misled by his shabby clothes and failed to recognize him,
 till Telemakhos began to reproach her and said: 

 
 "Mother - but you are so hard that I cannot call
 you by such a name - why do you keep away from my father in this way? Why do
 you not sit by his side and begin talking to him and asking him questions? No
 other woman could bear to keep away from her husband when he had come back to
 her after twenty years of absence, and after having gone through so much; but
 your heart always was as hard as a stone." 

 
 Penelope answered, "My son, I am so lost in
 astonishment that I can find no words in which either to ask questions or to
 answer them. I cannot even look him straight in the face. Still, if he really
 is Odysseus come back to his own home again, we shall get to understand one
 another better by and by, for there are tokens [ sêmata ] with which we two are alone acquainted, and which are hidden
 from all others." 

 
 Odysseus smiled at this, and said to
 Telemakhos, "Let your mother put me to any proof she likes; she will make up
 her mind about it presently. She rejects me for the moment and believes me to
 be somebody else, because I am covered with dirt and have such bad clothes on;
 let us, however, consider what we had better do next. When one man has killed
 another in a dêmos , even though he was not one who
 would leave many friends to take up his quarrel, the man who has killed him
 must still say good bye to his friends and flee the country; whereas we have
 been killing the stay of a whole city, and all the picked youth of Ithaca . I would have you consider this
 matter."

"Look to it yourself, father," answered
 Telemakhos, "for they say you are the wisest counselor in the world, and that
 there is no other mortal man who can compare with you. We will follow you with
 right good will, nor shall you find us fail you in so far as our strength holds
 out." 

 
 "I will say what I think will be best,"
 answered Odysseus. "First wash and put your shirts on; tell the maids also to
 go to their own room and dress; Phemios shall then strike up a dance tune on
 his lyre, so that if people outside hear, or any of the neighbors, or some one
 going along the street happens to notice it, they may think there is a wedding
 in the house, and no rumors [ kleos ] about the death
 of the suitors will get about in the town, before we can escape to the woods
 upon my own land. Once there, we will settle which of the courses of action
 [ kerdos ] heaven grants us shall seem
 wisest." 

 
 Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had
 said. First they washed and put their shirts on, while the women got ready.
 Then Phemios took his lyre and set them all longing for sweet song and stately
 dance. The house re-echoed with the sound of men and women dancing, and the
 people outside said, "I suppose the queen has been getting married at last. She
 ought to be ashamed of herself for not continuing to protect her husband's
 property until he comes home." 

 
 This was what they said, but they did not know
 what it was that had been happening. The upper servant Eurynome washed and
 anointed Odysseus in his own house and gave him a shirt and cloak, while Athena
 made him look taller and stronger than before; she also made the hair grow
 thick on the top of his head, and flow down in curls like hyacinth blossoms;
 she shed kharis about his head and shoulders just
 as a skillful workman who has studied art of all kinds under Hephaistos or
 Athena - and his work is full of kharis - enriches
 a piece of silver plate by gilding it. He came from the bath looking like one
 of the immortals, and sat down opposite his wife on the seat he had left. "My
 dear," said he, "heaven has endowed you with a heart more unyielding than woman
 ever yet had. No other woman could bear to keep away from her husband when he
 had come back to her after twenty years of absence, and after having gone
 through so much. But come, nurse, get a bed ready for me; I will sleep alone,
 for this woman has a heart as hard as iron."

"My dear," answered Penelope, "I have no wish
 to set myself up, nor to depreciate you; but I am not struck by your
 appearance, for I very well remember what kind of a man you were when you set
 sail from Ithaca . Nevertheless,
 Eurykleia, take his bed outside the bed chamber that he himself built. Bring
 the bed outside this room, and put bedding upon it with fleeces, good
 coverlets, and blankets." 

 
 She said this to try him, but Odysseus was very
 angry and said, "Wife, I am much displeased at what you have just been saying.
 Who has been taking my bed from the place in which I left it? He must have
 found it a hard task, no matter how skilled a workman he was, unless some god
 came and helped him to shift it. There is no man living, however strong and in
 his prime, who could move it from its place. For it was wrought to be a great
 sign [ sêma ]; it is a marvelous curiosity which I
 made with my very own hands. There was a young olive growing within the
 precincts of the house, in full vigor, and about as thick as a bearing-post. I
 built my room round this with strong walls of stone and a roof to cover them,
 and I made the doors strong and well-fitting. Then I cut off the top boughs of
 the olive tree and left the stump standing. This I dressed roughly from the
 root upwards and then worked with carpenter's tools well and skillfully,
 straightening my work by drawing a line on the wood, and making it into a
 bed-prop. I then bored a hole down the middle, and made it the center-post of
 my bed, at which I worked till I had finished it, inlaying it with gold and
 silver; after this I stretched a hide of crimson leather from one side of it to
 the other. So you see I know all about this sign [ sêma ], and I desire to learn whether it is still there, or whether
 any one has been removing it by cutting down the olive tree at its roots." 

 
 When she heard the sure proofs [ sêmata ] Odysseus now gave her, she fairly broke down.
 She flew weeping to his side, flung her arms about his neck, and kissed him.
 "Do not be angry with me Odysseus," she cried, "you, who are the wisest of
 humankind. We have suffered, both of us. Heaven has denied us the happiness of
 spending our youth, and of growing old, together; do not then be aggrieved or
 take it amiss that I did not embrace you thus as soon as I saw you. I have been
 shuddering all the time through fear that someone might come here and deceive
 me with a lying story; for there are many people who plan wicked schemes [ kerdea ]. Zeus’ daughter Helen would never have yielded
 herself to a man from a foreign country, if she had known that the sons of
 Achaeans would come after her and bring her back. Heaven put it in her heart to
 do wrong, and she gave no thought to that transgression [ atê ], which has been the source of all our sorrows [ penthos ]. Now, however, that you have convinced me by
 showing that you know all the proofs [ sêmata ] of
 our bed (which no human being has ever seen but you and I and a single maid
 servant, the daughter of Aktor, who was given me by my father on my marriage,
 and who keeps the doors of our room), hard of belief though I have been, I can
 mistrust no longer." 

 
 Then Odysseus in his turn melted, and wept as
 he clasped his dear and faithful wife to his bosom. As the sight of land is
 welcome to men who are swimming towards the shore, when Poseidon has wrecked
 their ship with the fury of his winds and waves - a few alone reach the land,
 and these, covered with brine, are thankful when they find themselves on firm
 ground and out of danger - even so was her husband welcome to her as she looked
 upon him, and she could not tear her two fair arms from about his neck. Indeed
 they would have gone on indulging their sorrow till rosy-fingered morn
 appeared, had not Athena determined otherwise, and held night back in the far
 west, while she would not suffer Dawn to leave Okeanos, nor to yoke the two
 steeds Lampos and Phaethon that bear her onward to break the day upon
 humankind.

At last, however, Odysseus said, "Wife, we have
 not yet reached the end of our trials [ athloi ]. I
 have an unknown amount of toil [ ponos ] still to
 undergo. It is long and difficult, but I must go through with it, for thus the
 shade [ psukhê ] of Teiresias prophesied concerning
 me, on the day when I went down into Hades to ask about my return [ nostos ] and that of my companions. But now let us go
 to bed, that we may lie down and enjoy the blessed boon of sleep." 

 
 "You shall go to bed as soon as you please,"
 replied Penelope, "now that the gods have sent you home to your own good house
 and to your country. But as heaven has put it in your mind to speak of it, tell
 me about the task [ athlos ] that lies before you. I
 shall have to hear about it later, so it is better that I should be told at
 once." 

 
 "My dear," answered Odysseus, "why should you
 press me to tell you? Still, I will not conceal it from you, though you will
 not like it. I do not like it myself, for Teiresias bade me travel far and
 wide, carrying an oar, till I came to a country where the people have never
 heard of the sea, and do not even mix salt with their food. They know nothing
 about ships, nor oars that are as the wings of a ship. He gave me this certain
 token [ sêma ] which I will not hide from you. He
 said that a wayfarer should meet me and ask me whether it was a winnowing
 shovel that I had on my shoulder. On this, I was to fix my oar in the ground
 and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Poseidon; after which I was to go
 home and offer hecatombs to all the gods in heaven, one after the other. As for
 myself, he said that death should come to me from the sea, and that my life
 should ebb away very gently when I was full of years and peace of mind, and my
 people should be prosperous [ olbios ]. All this, he
 said, should surely come to pass." 

 
 And Penelope said, "If the gods are going to
 grant you a happier time in your old age, you may hope then to have some
 respite from misfortune."

Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Eurynome and
 the nurse took torches and made the bed ready with soft coverlets; as soon as
 they had laid them, the nurse went back into the house to go to her rest,
 leaving the bed chamber woman Eurynome to show Odysseus and Penelope to bed by
 torch light. When she had conducted them to their room she went back, and they
 then came joyfully to the rites of their own old bed. Telemakhos, Philoitios,
 and the swineherd now left off dancing, and made the women leave off also. They
 then laid themselves down to sleep in the cloisters. 

 
 When Odysseus and Penelope had had their fill
 of love they fell talking with one another. She told him how much she had to
 bear in seeing the house filled with a crowd of wicked suitors who had killed
 so many sheep and oxen on her account, and had drunk so many casks of wine.
 Odysseus in his turn told her what he had suffered, and how much trouble he had
 himself given to other people. He told her everything, and she was so delighted
 to listen that she never went to sleep till he had ended his whole story. 

 
 He began with his victory over the Kikones, and
 how he thence reached the fertile land of the Lotus-eaters. He told her all
 about the Cyclops and how he had
 punished him for having so ruthlessly eaten his brave comrades; how he then
 went on to Aeolus, who received him hospitably and furthered him on his way,
 but even so he was not to reach home, for to his great grief a gale carried him
 out to sea again; how he went on to the Laestrygonian city Telepylos, where the
 people destroyed all his ships with their crews, save himself and his own ship
 only. Then he told of cunning Circe and her craft, and how he sailed to the
 chill house of Hades, to consult the ghost [ psukhê ]
 of the Theban seer Teiresias, and how he saw his old comrades in arms, and his
 mother who bore him and brought him up when he was a child; how he then heard
 the wondrous singing of the Sirens, and went on to the wandering rocks and
 terrible Charybdis and to Scylla, whom no man had ever yet passed in safety;
 how his men then ate the cattle of the sun-god, and how Zeus therefore struck
 the ship with his thunderbolts, so that all his men perished together, himself
 alone being left alive; how at last he reached the Ogygian island and the nymph
 Calypso, who kept him there in a cave, and fed him, and wanted him to marry
 her, in which case she intended making him immortal so that he should never
 grow old, but she could not persuade him to let her do so; and how after much
 suffering he had found his way to the Phaeacians, who had treated him as though
 he had been a god, and sent him back in a ship to his own country after having
 given him gold, bronze, and raiment in great abundance. This was the last thing
 about which he told her, for here a deep sleep took hold upon him and eased the
 burden of his sorrows. 

 
 Then Athena thought of another matter. When she
 deemed that Odysseus had had enough both of his wife and of repose, she bade
 gold-enthroned Dawn rise out of Okeanos that she might shed light upon
 humankind. On this, Odysseus rose from his comfortable bed and said to
 Penelope, "Wife, we have both of us had our full share of trials [ athlos ], you, here, in lamenting my absence, and I in
 being prevented from getting home [ nostos ] though I
 was longing all the time to do so. Now, however, that we have at last come
 together, take care of the property that is in the house. As for the sheep and
 goats which the wicked suitors have eaten, I will take many myself by force
 from other people, and will compel the Achaeans to make good the rest till they
 shall have filled all my yards. I am now going to the wooded lands out in the
 country to see my father who has so long been grieved on my account, and to
 yourself I will give these instructions, though you have little need of them.
 At sunrise it will at once get abroad that I have been killing the suitors; go
 upstairs, therefore, and stay there with your women. See nobody and ask no
 questions."

As he spoke he girded on his armor. Then he
 roused Telemakhos, Philoitios, and Eumaios, and told them all to put on their
 armor also. This they did, and armed themselves. When they had done so, they
 opened the gates and sallied forth, Odysseus leading the way. It was now
 daylight, but Athena nevertheless concealed them in darkness and led them
 quickly out of the town.

Then Hermes of Cyllene summoned the ghosts [ psukhai ] of the suitors, and in his hand he held the
 fair golden wand with which he seals men's eyes in sleep or wakes them just as
 he pleases; with this he roused the ghosts and led them, while they followed
 whining and gibbering behind him. As bats fly squealing in the hollow of some
 great cave, when one of them has fallen out of the cluster in which they hang,
 even so did the ghosts whine and squeal as Hermes the healer of sorrow led them
 down into the dark abode of death. When they had passed the waters of Okeanos
 and the rock Leukas , they came to the
 gates of the sun and the dêmos of dreams, whereon
 they reached the meadow of asphodel where dwell the souls and shadows of them
 that can labor no more. 

 
 Here they found the ghost [ psukhê ] of Achilles son of Peleus, with those of Patroklos,
 Antilokhos, and Ajax, who was the finest and handsomest man of all the Danaans
 after the son of Peleus himself. 

 
 They gathered round the ghost of the son of
 Peleus, and the ghost [ psukhê ] of Agamemnon joined
 them, sorrowing bitterly. Round him were gathered also the ghosts of those who
 had perished with him in the house of Aigisthos; and the ghost [ psukhê ] of Achilles spoke first. 

 
 "Son of Atreus," it said, "we used to say that
 Zeus had loved you better from first to last than any other hero, for you were
 leader over many and brave men, when we were all fighting together in the dêmos of the Trojans; yet the hand of death, which no
 mortal can escape, was laid upon you all too early. Better for you had you
 fallen in the Trojan dêmos in the hey-day of your
 renown, for the Achaeans would have built a mound over your ashes, and your son
 would have been heir to your kleos , whereas it has
 now been your lot to come to a most miserable end."

"Happy [ olbios ] son
 of Peleus," answered the ghost [ psukhê ] of
 Agamemnon, "for having died at Troy 
 far from Argos , while the bravest of
 the Trojans and the Achaeans fell round you fighting for your body. There you
 lay in the whirling clouds of dust, all huge and hugely, heedless now of your
 chivalry. We fought the whole of the livelong day, nor should we ever have left
 off if Zeus had not sent a gale to stay us. Then, when we had borne you to the
 ships out of the fray, we laid you on your bed and cleansed your fair skin with
 warm water and with ointments. The Danaans tore their hair and wept bitterly
 round about you. Your mother, when she heard, came with her immortal nymphs
 from out of the sea, and the sound of a great wailing went forth over the
 waters so that the Achaeans quaked for fear. They would have fled
 panic-stricken to their ships had not wise old Nestor whose counsel was ever
 truest checked them saying, ‘Hold, Argives, flee not sons of the Achaeans, this
 is his mother coming from the sea with her immortal nymphs to view the body of
 her son.’ 

 
 "Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans feared no more.
 The daughters of the old man of the sea stood round you weeping bitterly, and
 clothed you in immortal raiment. The nine muses also came and lifted up their
 sweet voices in lament - calling and answering one another; there was not an
 Argive but wept for pity of the
 dirge they chanted. Days and nights seven and ten we mourned you, mortals and
 immortals, but on the eighteenth day we gave you to the flames, and many a fat
 sheep with many an ox did we slay in sacrifice around you. You were burnt in
 raiment of the gods, with rich resins and with honey, while heroes, horse and
 foot, clashed their armor round the pile as you were burning, with the tramp as
 of a great multitude. But when the flames of heaven had done their work, we
 gathered your white bones at daybreak and laid them in ointments and in pure
 wine. Your mother brought us a golden vase to hold them - gift of Bacchus, and
 work of Hephaistos himself; in this we mingled your bleached bones with those
 of Patroklos who had gone before you, and separate we enclosed also those of
 Antilokhos, who had been closer to you than any other of your comrades now that
 Patroklos was no more. 

 
 "Over these the host of the Argives built a
 noble tomb, on a point jutting out over the open Hellespont , that it might be seen from far out upon the sea by
 those now living and by them that shall be born hereafter. Your mother begged
 prizes from the gods, and offered them to be contended for [ agôn ] by the noblest of the Achaeans. You must have
 been present at the funeral of many a hero, when the young men gird themselves
 and make ready to contend for prizes on the death of some great chieftain, but
 you never saw such prizes as silver-footed Thetis offered in your honor; for
 the gods loved you well. Thus even in death your kleos , Achilles, has not been lost, and your name lives evermore
 among all humankind. But as for me, what solace had I when the days of my
 fighting were done? For Zeus willed my destruction on my return [ nostos ], by the hands of Aigisthos and those of my
 wicked wife." 

 
 Thus did they converse, and presently Hermes
 came up to them with the ghosts of the suitors who had been killed by Odysseus.
 The ghosts [ psukhai ] of Agamemnon and Achilles were
 astonished at seeing them, and went up to them at once. The ghost [ psukhê ] of Agamemnon recognized Amphimedon son of
 Melaneus, who lived in Ithaca and had
 been his host, so it began to talk to him.

"Amphimedon," it said, "what has happened to
 all you choice [ krînô ] young men - all of an age
 too - that you are come down here under the ground? One could select [ krînô ] no finer body of men from any city. Did
 Poseidon raise his winds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did
 your enemies make an end of you on the mainland when you were cattle-lifting or
 sheep-stealing, or while fighting in defense of their wives and city? Answer my
 question, for I have been your guest. Do you not remember how I came to your
 house with Menelaos, to persuade Odysseus to join us with his ships against
 Troy ? It was a whole month ere we
 could resume our voyage, for we had hard work to persuade Odysseus to come with
 us." 

 
 And the ghost [ psukhê ] of Amphimedon answered, "Agamemnon, son of Atreus, king of
 men, I remember everything that you have said, and will tell you fully and
 accurately about the way in which our end was brought about. Odysseus had been
 long gone, and we were courting his wife, who did not say point blank that she
 would not marry, nor yet bring matters to an end, for she meant to compass our
 destruction: this, then, was the trick she played us. She set up a great
 tambour frame in her room and began to work on an enormous piece of fine
 needlework. ‘Sweethearts,’ said she, ‘Odysseus is indeed dead, still, do not
 press me to marry again immediately; wait - for I would not have my skill in
 needlework perish unrecorded - till I have completed a shroud for the hero
 Laertes , against the time when
 death shall take him. He is very rich, and the women of the dêmos will talk if he is laid out without a shroud.’
 This is what she said, and we assented; whereupon we could see her working upon
 her great web all day long, but at night she would unpick the stitches again by
 torchlight. She fooled us in this way for three years without our finding it
 out, but as time [ hôra ] wore on and she was now in
 her fourth year, and the waning of moons and many days had been accomplished,
 one of her maids who knew what she was doing told us, and we caught her in the
 act of undoing her work, so she had to finish it whether she would or not; and
 when she showed us the robe she had made, after she had had it washed, its
 splendor was as that of the sun or moon. 

 
 "Then some malicious daimôn conveyed Odysseus to the upland farm where his swineherd
 lives. Thither presently came also his son, returning from a voyage to
 Pylos , and the two came to the
 town when they had hatched their plot for our destruction. Telemakhos came
 first, and then after him, accompanied by the swineherd, came Odysseus, clad in
 rags and leaning on a staff as though he were some miserable old beggar. He
 came so unexpectedly that none of us knew him, not even the older ones among
 us, and we reviled him and threw things at him. He endured both being struck
 and insulted without a word, though he was in his own house; but when the will
 [ noos ] of Aegis-bearing Zeus inspired him, he
 and Telemakhos took the armor and hid it in an inner chamber, bolting the doors
 behind them. Then he cunningly made his wife offer his bow and a quantity of
 iron to be contended for by us ill-fated suitors; and this was the beginning of
 our end, for not one of us could string the bow - nor nearly do so. When it was
 about to reach the hands of Odysseus, we all of us shouted out that it should
 not be given him, no matter what he might say, but Telemakhos insisted on his
 having it. When he had got it in his hands he strung it with ease and sent his
 arrow through the iron. Then he stood on the floor of the room and poured his
 arrows on the ground, glaring fiercely about him. First he killed Antinoos, and
 then, aiming straight before him, he let fly his deadly darts and they fell
 thick on one another. It was plain that some one of the gods was helping them,
 for they fell upon us with might and main throughout the cloisters, and there
 was a hideous sound of groaning as our brains were being battered in, and the
 ground seethed with our blood. This, Agamemnon, is how we came by our end, and
 our bodies are lying still un-cared for in the house of Odysseus, for our
 friends at home do not yet know what has happened, so that they cannot lay us
 out and wash the black blood from our wounds, making moan over us according to
 the offices due to the departed." 

 
 "Happy Odysseus, son of Laertes ," replied the ghost [ psukhê ] of Agamemnon, "you are indeed blessed [ olbios ] in the possession of a wife endowed with such
 rare excellence [ aretê ] of understanding, and so
 faithful to her wedded lord as Penelope the daughter of Ikarios. The kleos , therefore, of her excellence [ aretê ] shall never die, and the immortals shall
 compose a song that shall be welcome to all humankind in honor of the constancy
 of Penelope. How far otherwise was the wickedness of the daughter of Tyndareus
 who killed her lawful husband; her song shall be hateful among men, for she has
 brought disgrace on all womankind even on the good ones."

Thus did they converse in the house of Hades
 deep down within the bowels of the earth. Meanwhile Odysseus and the others
 passed out of the town and soon reached the fair and well-tilled farm of
 Laertes , which he had reclaimed
 with infinite labor. Here was his house, with a lean-to running all round it,
 where the slaves who worked for him slept and sat and ate, while inside the
 house there was an old Sicel woman, who looked after him in this his
 country-farm. When Odysseus got there, he said to his son and to the other
 two: 

 
 "Go to the house, and kill the best pig that
 you can find for dinner. Meanwhile I want to see whether my father will know
 me, or fail to recognize me after so long an absence." 

 
 He then took off his armor and gave it to
 Eumaios and Philoitios, who went straight on to the house, while he turned off
 into the vineyard to make trial of his father. As he went down into the great
 orchard, he did not see Dolios, nor any of his sons nor of the other bondsmen,
 for they were all gathering thorns to make a fence for the vineyard, at the
 place where the old man had told them; he therefore found his father alone,
 hoeing a vine. He had on a dirty old shirt, patched and very shabby; his legs
 were bound round with thongs of oxhide to save him from the brambles, and he
 also wore sleeves of leather; he had a goat skin cap on his head, and was
 looking very woe-begone [ penthos ]. When Odysseus
 saw him so worn, so old and full of sorrow [ penthos ], he stood still under a tall pear tree and began to weep. He
 doubted whether to embrace him, kiss him, and tell him all about his having
 come home, or whether he should first question him and see what he would say.
 In the end he deemed it best to be crafty with him, so in this mind he went up
 to his father, who was bending down and digging about a plant. 

 
 "I see, sir," said Odysseus, "that you are an
 excellent gardener - what pains you take with it, to be sure. There is not a
 single plant, not a fig tree, vine, olive, pear, nor flower bed, but bears the
 trace of your attention. I trust, however, that you will not be offended if I
 say that you take better care of your garden than of yourself. You are old,
 unsavory, and very meanly clad. It cannot be because you are idle that your
 master takes such poor care of you, indeed your face and figure have nothing of
 the slave about them, and proclaim you of noble birth. I should have said that
 you were one of those who should wash well, eat well, and lie soft at night as
 old men have a right [ dikê ] to do; but tell me, and
 tell me true, whose laborer are you, and in whose garden are you working? Tell
 me also about another matter. Is this place that I have come to really
 Ithaca ? I met a man just now who
 said so, but he was a dull fellow, and had not the patience to hear my story
 out when I was asking him about an old friend of mine, whether he was still
 living, or was already dead and in the house of Hades. Believe me when I tell
 you that this man came to my house once when I was in my own country and never
 yet did any stranger come to me whom I liked better. He said that his family
 came from Ithaca and that his father
 was Laertes , son of Arceisius. I
 received him hospitably, making him welcome to all the abundance of my house,
 and when he went away I gave him all customary presents. I gave him seven
 talents of fine gold, and a cup of solid silver with flowers chased upon it. I
 gave him twelve light cloaks, and as many pieces of tapestry; I also gave him
 twelve cloaks of single fold, twelve rugs, twelve fair mantles, and an equal
 number of shirts. To all this I added four good looking women skilled in all
 useful arts, and I let him take his choice."

His father shed tears and answered, "Sir, you
 have indeed come to the country that you have named, but it is fallen into the
 hands of wicked people. All this wealth of presents has been given to no
 purpose. If you could have found your friend here alive in the dêmos of Ithaca , he would have entertained you hospitably and would have
 required your presents amply when you left him - as would have been only right
 considering what you have already given him. But tell me, and tell me true, how
 many years is it since you entertained this guest - my unhappy son, as ever
 was? Alas! He has perished far from his own country; the fishes of the sea have
 eaten him, or he has fallen a prey to the birds and wild beasts of some
 continent. Neither his mother, nor I his father, who were his parents, could
 throw our arms about him and wrap him in his shroud, nor could his excellent
 and richly dowered wife Penelope bewail her husband as was natural upon his
 death bed, and close his eyes according to the offices due to the departed. But
 now, tell me truly for I want to know. Who and whence are you - tell me of your
 town and parents? Where is the ship lying that has brought you and your men to
 Ithaca ? Or were you a passenger on
 some other man's ship, and those who brought you here have gone on their way
 and left you?" 

 
 "I will tell you everything," answered
 Odysseus, "quite truly. I come from Alybas, where I have a fine house. I am son
 of king Apheidas, who is the son of Polypemon. My own name is Eperitus; a daimôn drove me off my course as I was leaving
 Sicania, and I have been carried here against my will. As for my ship it is
 lying over yonder, off the open country outside the town, and this is the fifth
 year since Odysseus left my country. Poor fellow, yet the omens were good for
 him when he left me. The birds all flew on our right hands, and both he and I
 rejoiced to see them as we parted, for we had every hope that we should have
 another friendly meeting and exchange presents." 

 
 A dark cloud of sorrow [ akhos ] fell upon Laertes as he listened. He filled both hands with the dust from
 off the ground and poured it over his gray head, groaning heavily as he did so.
 The heart of Odysseus was touched, and his nostrils quivered as he looked upon
 his father; then he sprang towards him, flung his arms about him and kissed
 him, saying, "I am he, father, about whom you are asking - I have returned
 after having been away for twenty years. But cease your sighing and lamentation
 - we have no time to lose, for I should tell you that I have been killing the
 suitors in my house, to punish them for their insolence and crimes." 

 
 "If you really are my son Odysseus," replied
 Laertes , "and have come back
 again, you must give me such manifest proof [ sêma ]
 of your identity as shall convince me."

"First observe this scar," answered Odysseus,
 "which I got from a boar's tusk when I was hunting on Mount Parnassus. You and
 my mother had sent me to Autolykos, my mother's father, to receive the presents
 which when he was over here he had promised to give me. Furthermore I will
 point out to you the trees in the vineyard which you gave me, and I asked you
 all about them as I followed you round the garden. We went over them all, and
 you told me their names and what they all were. You gave me thirteen pear
 trees, ten apple trees, and forty fig trees; you also said you would give me
 fifty rows of vines; there was wheat planted between each row, and they yield
 grapes of every kind when the seasons [ hôrai ] of
 Zeus have been laid heavy upon them." 

 
 
 Laertes ’ strength failed him when
 he heard the convincing proofs [ sêmata ] which his
 son had given him. He threw his arms about him, and Odysseus had to support
 him, or he would have gone off into a swoon; but as soon as he came to, and was
 beginning to recover his senses, he said, "O father Zeus, then you gods are
 still in Olympus after all, if the
 suitors have really been punished for their insolence [ hubris ] and folly. Nevertheless, I am much afraid that I shall have
 all the townspeople of Ithaca up here
 directly, and they will be sending messengers everywhere throughout the cities
 of the Cephallênians." 

 
 Odysseus answered, "Take heart and do not
 trouble yourself about that, but let us go into the house hard by your garden.
 I have already told Telemakhos, Philoitios, and Eumaios to go on there and get
 dinner ready as soon as possible." 

 
 Thus conversing the two made their way towards
 the house. When they got there they found Telemakhos with the stockman and the
 swineherd cutting up meat and mixing wine with water. Then the old Sicel woman
 took Laertes inside and washed him
 and anointed him with oil. She put him on a good cloak, and Athena came up to
 him and gave him a more imposing presence, making him taller and stouter than
 before. When he came back his son was surprised to see him looking so like an
 immortal, and said to him, "My dear father, some one of the gods has been
 making you much taller and better-looking."

Laertes answered, "Would, by
 Father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, that I were the man I was when I ruled among
 the Cephallênians, and took Nericum, that strong fortress on the foreland. If I
 were still what I then was and had been in our house yesterday with my armor
 on, I should have been able to stand by you and help you against the suitors. I
 should have killed a great many of them, and you would have rejoiced to see
 it." 

 
 Thus did they converse; but the others, when
 they had finished their work and the feast was ready, left off working [ ponos ], and took each his proper place on the benches
 and seats. Then they began eating; by and by old Dolios and his sons left their
 work and came up, for their mother, the Sicel woman who looked after Laertes
 now that he was growing old, had been to fetch them. When they saw Odysseus and
 were certain it was he, they stood there lost in astonishment; but Odysseus
 scolded them good-naturedly and said, "Sit down to your dinner, old man, and
 never mind about your surprise; we have been wanting to begin for some time and
 have been waiting for you." 

 
 Then Dolios put out both his hands and went up
 to Odysseus. "Sir," said he, seizing his master's hand and kissing it at the
 wrist, "we have long been wishing you home: and now heaven has restored you to
 us after we had given up hoping. All hail, therefore, and may the gods prosper
 you [ olbios ]. But tell me, does Penelope already
 know of your return, or shall we send some one to tell her?" 

 
 "Old man," answered Odysseus, "she knows
 already, so you need not trouble about that." On this he took his seat, and the
 sons of Dolios gathered round Odysseus to give him greeting and embrace him one
 after the other; then they took their seats in due order near Dolios their
 father.

While they were thus busy getting their dinner
 ready, Rumor went round the town, and noised abroad the terrible fate that had
 befallen the suitors; as soon, therefore, as the people heard of it they
 gathered from every quarter, groaning and hooting before the house of Odysseus.
 They took the dead away, buried every man his own, and put the bodies of those
 who came from elsewhere on board the fishing vessels, for the fishermen to take
 each of them to his own place. They then met angrily in the place of assembly,
 and when they were got together Eupeithes rose to speak. He was overwhelmed
 with grief [ penthos ] for the death of his son
 Antinoos, who had been the first man killed by Odysseus, so he said, weeping
 bitterly, "My friend, this man has done the Achaeans great wrong. He took many
 of our best men away with him in his fleet, and he has lost both ships and men;
 now, moreover, on his return he has been killing all the foremost men among the
 Cephallênians. Let us be up and doing before he can get away to Pylos or to Elis where the Epeans rule, or we shall be ashamed of ourselves
 for ever afterwards. It will be an everlasting disgrace to us if we do not
 avenge the murder of our sons and brothers. For my own part I should have no
 more pleasure in life, but had rather die at once. Let us be up, then, and
 after them, before they can cross over to the mainland." 

 
 He wept as he spoke and every one pitied him.
 But Medon and the bard Phemios had now woke up, and came to them from the house
 of Odysseus. Every one was astonished at seeing them, but they stood in the
 middle of the assembly, and Medon said, "Hear me, men of Ithaca . Odysseus did not do these things
 against the will of heaven. I myself saw an immortal god take the form of
 Mentor and stand beside him. This god appeared, now in front of him encouraging
 him, and now going furiously about the court and attacking the suitors whereon
 they fell thick on one another." 

 
 On this pale fear laid hold of them, and old
 Halitherses, son of Mastor, rose to speak, for he was the only man among them
 who knew both past and future; so he spoke to them plainly and in all honesty,
 saying, 

 
 "Men of Ithaca , it is all your own fault that things have turned out as
 they have; you would not listen to me, nor yet to Mentor, when we bade you
 check the folly of your sons who were doing much wrong in the wantonness of
 their hearts - wasting the substance and dishonoring the wife of a chieftain
 who they thought would not return. Now, however, let it be as I say, and do as
 I tell you. Do not go out against Odysseus, or you may find that you have been
 drawing down evil on your own heads."

This was what he said, and more than half
 raised a loud shout, and at once left the assembly. But the rest stayed where
 they were, for the speech of Halitherses displeased them, and they sided with
 Eupeithes; they therefore hurried off for their armor, and when they had armed
 themselves, they met together in front of the city, and Eupeithes led them on
 in their folly. He thought he was going to avenge the murder of his son,
 whereas in truth he was never to return, but was himself to perish in his
 attempt. 

 
 Then Athena said to Zeus, "Father, son of
 Kronos, king of kings, answer me this question - What does your noos bid you? Will you set them fighting still
 further, or will you make peace between them?" 

 
 And Zeus answered, "My child, why should you
 ask me? Was it not by your own arrangement [ noos ]
 that Odysseus came home and took his revenge upon the suitors? Do whatever you
 like, but I will tell you what I think will be the most reasonable arrangement.
 Now that Odysseus is revenged, let them swear to a solemn covenant, in virtue
 of which he shall continue to rule, while we cause the others to forgive and
 forget the massacre of their sons and brothers. Let them then all become
 friends as heretofore, and let peace and plenty reign." 

 
 This was what Athena was already eager to bring
 about, so down she darted from off the topmost summits of Olympus .

Now when Laertes and the others had done dinner, Odysseus began by
 saying, "Some of you go out and see if they are not getting close up to us." So
 one of Dolios’ sons went as he was bid. Standing on the threshold he could see
 them all quite near, and said to Odysseus, "Here they are, let us put on our
 armor at once." 

 
 They put on their armor as fast as they could -
 that is to say Odysseus, his three men, and the six sons of Dolios. Laertes also and Dolios did the same -
 warriors by necessity in spite of their gray hair. When they had all put on
 their armor, they opened the gate and sallied forth, Odysseus leading the
 way. 

 
 Then Zeus’ daughter Athena came up to them,
 having assumed the form and voice of Mentor. Odysseus was glad when he saw her,
 and said to his son Telemakhos, "Telemakhos, now that you are about to fight in
 an engagement, which will show every man's mettle, be sure not to disgrace your
 ancestors, who were eminent for their strength and courage all the world
 over." 

 
 "You say truly, my dear father," answered
 Telemakhos, "and you shall see, if you will, that I am in no mind to disgrace
 your family."

Laertes was delighted when he
 heard this. "Good heavens, he exclaimed, "what a day I am enjoying: I do indeed
 rejoice at it. My son and grandson are vying with one another in the matter of
 valor [ aretê ]." 

 
 On this Athena came close up to him and said,
 "Son of Arceisius - best friend I have in the world - pray to the gray-eyed
 damsel, and to Zeus her father; then poise your spear and hurl it." 

 
 As she spoke she infused fresh vigor into him,
 and when he had prayed to her he poised his spear and hurled it. He hit
 Eupeithes’ helmet, and the spear went right through it, for the helmet stayed
 it not, and his armor rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.
 Meantime Odysseus and his son fell the front line of the foe and smote them
 with their swords and spears; indeed, they would have killed every one of them,
 and prevented them from ever getting home again, only Athena raised her voice
 aloud, and made every one pause. "Men of Ithaca ," she cried, "cease this dreadful war, and settle the
 matter at once without further bloodshed." 

 
 On this pale fear seized every one; they were
 so frightened that their arms dropped from their hands and fell upon the ground
 at the sound of the goddess’ voice, and they fled back to the city for their
 lives. But Odysseus gave a great cry, and gathering himself together swooped
 down like a soaring eagle. Then the son of Kronos sent a thunderbolt of fire
 that fell just in front of Athena, so she said to Odysseus, "Odysseus, noble
 son of Laertes, stop this warful strife, or Zeus will be angry with you."

Thus spoke Athena, and Odysseus obeyed her
 gladly. Then Athena assumed the form and voice of Mentor, and presently made a
 covenant of peace between the two contending parties.